IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v130y2025i4d10.1007_s11192-025-05282-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Closing the door behind: metric-based research evaluation systems and gatekeeping towards young researchers

Author

Listed:
  • Hakan Soner Şener

    (Hacettepe University)

  • İdris Semih Kaya

    (Hacettepe University)

  • Mücella Sena Köksal

    (Hacettepe University)

  • Zehra Taşkın

    (Hacettepe University
    Adam Mickiewicz University)

Abstract

The competitive nature of academia has led to the establishment of rigorous criteria by decision-makers for evaluating researchers’ performances. Title and tenure systems have been implemented based on these specific criteria. This study aims to examine how these criteria are fulfilled, identify which groups of researchers are required to meet these performance indicators, and assess the extent to which they do so. Data were collected from 98 academics in the field of library and information science via the Web of Science and the main academic platform of the Council of Higher Education, Turkey. A total of 1641 articles and 999 books or book chapters were subjected to analysis. The findings suggest that early-career researchers are disproportionately compelled to adhere to the “publish or perish” paradigm and are expected to meet higher performance expectations. When normalized for years of experience, the results indicate that professors exhibit the lowest publication output, while faculty members with a Ph.D. who hold the title of Associate Professor demonstrate the highest output. While this study primarily focuses on comparing the fulfillment of criteria between decision-makers and early-career researchers, future research will explore the observed inflation in book and book chapter publications within the same field.

Suggested Citation

  • Hakan Soner Şener & İdris Semih Kaya & Mücella Sena Köksal & Zehra Taşkın, 2025. "Closing the door behind: metric-based research evaluation systems and gatekeeping towards young researchers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(4), pages 2291-2310, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05282-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05282-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-025-05282-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-025-05282-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05282-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.