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Critical mass and the dependency of research quality on group size

Author

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  • R. Kenna

    (Coventry University)

  • B. Berche

    (CNRS—Nancy Université—UPVM)

Abstract

Academic research groups are treated as complex systems and their cooperative behaviour is analysed from a mathematical and statistical viewpoint. Contrary to the naive expectation that the quality of a research group is simply given by the mean calibre of its individual scientists, we show that intra-group interactions play a dominant role. Our model manifests phenomena akin to phase transitions which are brought about by these interactions, and which facilitate the quantification of the notion of critical mass for research groups. We present these critical masses for many academic areas. A consequence of our analysis is that overall research performance of a given discipline is improved by supporting medium-sized groups over large ones, while small groups must strive to achieve critical mass.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Kenna & B. Berche, 2011. "Critical mass and the dependency of research quality on group size," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 86(2), pages 527-540, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:86:y:2011:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-010-0282-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0282-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Thor-Erik Sandberg Hanssen & Finn Jørgensen & Berner Larsen, 2018. "The relation between the quality of research, researchers’ experience, and their academic environment," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(3), pages 933-950, March.
    2. Miśkiewicz, Janusz, 2013. "Effects of publications in proceedings on the measure of the core size of coauthors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(20), pages 5119-5131.
    3. O. Mryglod & Yu. Holovatch & R. Kenna, 2022. "Big fish and small ponds: why the departmental h-index should not be used to rank universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3279-3292, June.
    4. John Rigby & Barbara Jones, 2020. "Bringing the doctoral thesis by published papers to the Social Sciences and the Humanities: A quantitative easing? A small study of doctoral thesis submission rules and practice in two disciplines in ," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1387-1409, August.
    5. Camil Demetrescu & Andrea Ribichini & Marco Schaerf, 2020. "Are Italian research assessment exercises size-biased?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 533-549, October.
    6. Marcel Ausloos, 2014. "Binary scientific star coauthors core size," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(2), pages 331-351, May.
    7. Hassan Bougrine, 2014. "Subfield effects on the core of coauthors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1047-1064, February.
    8. Calabrese, Armando & Capece, Guendalina & Costa, Roberta & Di Pillo, Francesca & Giuffrida, Stefania, 2018. "A ‘power law’ based method to reduce size-related bias in indicators of knowledge performance: An application to university research assessment," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1263-1281.
    9. Stephan B. Bruns & David I. Stern, 2016. "Research assessment using early citation information," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 917-935, August.
    10. Valerio Capraro & Hélène Barcelo, 2015. "Group Size Effect on Cooperation in One-Shot Social Dilemmas II: Curvilinear Effect," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-11, July.

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