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What is the appropriate length of the publication period over which to assess research performance?

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanni Abramo

    (National Research Council of Italy
    Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”)

  • Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo

    (Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”)

  • Tindaro Cicero

    (Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”)

Abstract

National research assessment exercises are conducted in different nations over varying periods. The choice of the publication period to be observed has to address often contrasting needs: it has to ensure the reliability of the results issuing from the evaluation, but also reach the achievement of frequent assessments. In this work we attempt to identify which is the most appropriate or optimal publication period to be observed. For this, we analyze the variation of individual researchers’ productivity rankings with the length of the publication period within the period 2003–2008, by the over 30,000 Italian university scientists in the hard sciences. First we analyze the variation in rankings referring to pairs of contiguous and overlapping publication periods, and show that the variations reduce markedly with periods above 3 years. Then we will show the strong randomness of performance rankings over publication periods under 3 years. We conclude that the choice of a 3 year publication period would seem reliable, particularly for physics, chemistry, biology and medicine.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Tindaro Cicero, 2012. "What is the appropriate length of the publication period over which to assess research performance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 1005-1017, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:93:y:2012:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-012-0714-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0714-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Abramo, Giovanni & Cicero, Tindaro & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2012. "A sensitivity analysis of researchers’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 192-201.
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    9. Abramo, Giovanni & Cicero, Tindaro & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2012. "A sensitivity analysis of research institutions’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 298-306.
    10. Abramo, Giovanni & Cicero, Tindaro & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2011. "Assessing the varying level of impact measurement accuracy as a function of the citation window length," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 659-667.
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    Cited by:

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    3. 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.
    4. Peter James Bentley, 2015. "Cross-country differences in publishing productivity of academics in research universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 865-883, January.
    5. Rojko, Katarina & Lužar, Borut, 2022. "Scientific performance across research disciplines: Trends and differences in the case of Slovenia," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    6. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Flavia Costa, 2018. "The effect of multidisciplinary collaborations on research diversification," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 423-433, July.
    7. Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Peter A. Gloor, 2020. "Predicting the future success of scientific publications through social network and semantic analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(1), pages 357-377, July.
    8. Jayshree Mamtora & Jacqueline K. Wolstenholme & Gaby Haddow, 2014. "Environmental sciences research in northern Australia, 2000–2011: a bibliometric analysis within the context of a national research assessment exercise," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 265-281, January.
    9. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2020. "A novel methodology to assess the scientific standing of nations at field level," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    10. Srđan Bojović & Rada Matić & Zorica Popović & Miroslava Smiljanić & Milena Stefanović & Vera Vidaković, 2014. "An overview of forestry journals in the period 2006–2010 as basis for ascertaining research trends," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1331-1346, February.
    11. Soo Jeung Lee & Christian Schneijderberg & Yangson Kim & Isabel Steinhardt, 2021. "Have Academics’ Citation Patterns Changed in Response to the Rise of World University Rankings? A Test Using First-Citation Speeds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.
    12. Christian Schneijderberg & Nicolai Götze & Lars Müller, 2022. "A study of 25 years of publication outputs in the German academic profession," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 1-28, January.
    13. Giannis Karagiannis & Georgia Paschalidou, 2017. "Assessing research effectiveness: a comparison of alternative nonparametric models," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 456-468, April.
    14. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2018. "Who benefits from a country’s scientific research?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 249-258.
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    16. Thabang Lazarus Bambo & Anastassios Pouris, 2020. "Bibliometric analysis of bioeconomy research in South Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 29-51, October.

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