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A comparison of university performance scores and ranks by MNCS and FSS

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  • Abramo, Giovanni
  • D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea

Abstract

In a previous article of ours, we explained the reasons why the MNCS and all similar per-publication citation indicators should not be used to measure research performance, whereas efficiency indicators (output to input) such as the FSS are valid indicators of performance. The problem frequently indicated in measuring efficiency indicators lies in the availability of input data. If we accept that such data are inaccessible, and instead resort to per-publication citation indicators, the question arises as to what extent institution performance rankings by MNCS are different from those by FSS (and so what effects such results could have on policy-makers, managers and other users of the rankings). Contrasting the 2008–2012 performance by MNCS and FSS of Italian universities in the Sciences, we try to answer that question at field, discipline, and overall university level. We present the descriptive statistics of the shifts in rank, and the correlations of both scores and ranks. The analysis reveals strong correlations in many fields but weak correlations in others. The extent of rank shifts is never negligible: a number of universities shift from top to non-top quartile ranks.

Suggested Citation

  • Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2016. "A comparison of university performance scores and ranks by MNCS and FSS," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 889-901.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:10:y:2016:i:4:p:889-901
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2016.07.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Flavia Di Costa, 2008. "Assessment of sectoral aggregation distortion in research productivity measurements," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 111-121, June.
    2. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2016. "A farewell to the MNCS and like size-independent indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 646-651.
    3. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cinzia Daraio, 2005. "Exploring size and agglomeration effects on public research productivity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 63(1), pages 87-120, March.
    4. Schubert, Torben, 2009. "Empirical observations on New Public Management to increase efficiency in public research--Boon or bane?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1225-1234, October.
    5. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2015. "Evaluating university research: Same performance indicator, different rankings," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 514-525.
    6. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2015. "Ranking research institutions by the number of highly-cited articles per scientist," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 915-923.
    7. Per O. Seglen & Dag W. Aksnes, 2000. "Scientific Productivity and Group Size: A Bibliometric Analysis of Norwegian Microbiological Research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 49(1), pages 125-143, August.
    8. Waltman, Ludo & van Eck, Nees Jan & van Leeuwen, Thed N. & Visser, Martijn S. & van Raan, Anthony F.J., 2011. "Towards a new crown indicator: Some theoretical considerations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 37-47.
    9. Linda Butler, 2007. "Assessing university research: A plea for a balanced approach," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(8), pages 565-574, October.
    10. Golden, John & Carstensen, Fred V., 1992. "Academic research productivity, department size and organization: Further results, comment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 153-160, June.
    11. Ruiz-Castillo, Javier & Waltman, Ludo, 2015. "Field-normalized citation impact indicators using algorithmically constructed classification systems of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 102-117.
    12. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2014. "How do you define and measure research productivity?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(2), pages 1129-1144, November.
    13. Golden, John & Carstensen, Fred V., 1992. "Academic research productivity, department size and organization: Further results, rejoinder," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 169-171, June.
    14. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Fulvio Viel, 2013. "The suitability of h and g indexes for measuring the research performance of institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(3), pages 555-570, December.
    15. Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Cristiano Giuffrida & Giovanni Abramo, 2011. "A heuristic approach to author name disambiguation in bibliometrics databases for large-scale research assessments," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(2), pages 257-269, February.
    16. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Flavia Di Costa, 2010. "Testing the trade-off between productivity and quality in research activities," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(1), pages 132-140, January.
    17. Alonso, S. & Cabrerizo, F.J. & Herrera-Viedma, E. & Herrera, F., 2009. "h-Index: A review focused in its variants, computation and standardization for different scientific fields," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 273-289.
    18. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Fulvio Viel, 2013. "Assessing the accuracy of the h- and g-indexes for measuring researchers' productivity," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(6), pages 1224-1234, June.
    19. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Marco Solazzi, 2010. "National research assessment exercises: a measure of the distortion of performance rankings when labor input is treated as uniform," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(3), pages 605-619, September.
    20. Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Cristiano Giuffrida & Giovanni Abramo, 2011. "A heuristic approach to author name disambiguation in bibliometrics databases for large‐scale research assessments," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(2), pages 257-269, February.
    21. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Fabio Pugini, 2008. "The measurement of Italian universities’ research productivity by a non parametric-bibliometric methodology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 76(2), pages 225-244, August.
    22. Abramo, Giovanni & Cicero, Tindaro & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2012. "Revisiting the scaling of citations for research assessment," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 470-479.
    23. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Flavia Di Costa, 2010. "Testing the trade‐off between productivity and quality in research activities," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(1), pages 132-140, January.
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    1. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2017. "Does your surname affect the citability of your publications?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 121-127.
    2. Muammer Maral, 2026. "Evaluation model for research tendencies and performance of universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 131(1), pages 501-532, January.
    3. Giovanni Abramo & Les Oxley, 2021. "Scientometric‐based analysis in business and economics: Introduction, examples, and guidelines," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 1261-1270, December.

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