Services
Citation Analysis
Citation analysis, also known as
bibliometrics, is becoming increasingly important for research
evaluation and the meaurement of research impact. The Library subscribes
to tools to assist with these measurements which are useful for NRF
ratings, CV's, interviews, evaluations, etc.
Citation reports
The following are examples of citation reports which are available on request from the Library:
Author analysis: Number of citations, H-index, highest cited articles by author.
Article analysis: Number of times an article has been cited, article level metrics (altmetrics).
Journal analysis: Journal Impact Factor; SJR (SCImago Journal Rank); SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper).
Faculty or department analysis: Summary of citation performance per faculty, department or research group.
Research publication metrics (Definitions, sources for metrics)
Article metrics
The number of citations to articles
and books provides a measurable indicator of an individual's impact,
providing a measure of how often their work is used by other
researchers. Citation counts can be found in the following databases:
A large citation database that only reports the impact of those items indexed by their database.
Another
large citation database, which works similar than Web of Science, but
it searches a slightly different group of citations.
This large free database counts citations from both scholarly and non-scholarly sources.
Author metrics
The h-index was developed by
Professor Hirsch in 2005 and designed to be a simple metric with which
to quantify the output of an individual researcher. The h-index is only
meaningful when compared to others in the same discipline. The three
databases mentioned above, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar,
can be used to calculate an author's h-index or a research group's
h-index.
Journal metrics
The Journal Impact Factor is the most well known journal metric,
but there are others as well, which attempt to take into account the
variations between subject areas.
This database can help one to get a list of top ranked journals in a specific
field or to check an individual journal for its impact and rank.
The Scopus databasie is a good tool to compare journals with the 'Compare sources" option. One can analyse a variety of
citation parameters, such as the Source
Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) and the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR). A new measure, Citescore, was added recently. Search for a journal under "Sources" and view the metrics per journal or use the "Compare sources" option to compare journals.
Google Scholar can be used to provide a list of journals by subject area ranked by their H5-index.
Scimago is a free website that uses Scopus data to provide rankings for journals.
Altmetrics
Altmetrics (or Alternative
metrics) was develeped to complement traditional metrics based on
citations within academic publications. Evidence of societal impact will
be collected in terms of mentions in social media, news reports, etc.
Altmetric badges are now embedded within many sources and you can also
download the Altmetrics Bookmarklet for individual use.
Please also see the Library guide
Bibliometrics and citation analysis for more detailed information.
Unique Author Identifiers
ORCID
The most recognized system for administering unique
author identifiers is
ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID), an
initiative that aims to create a central registry of unique author
identifiers, including a mechanism to link between different author ID
schemes, such as ResearcherID. ORCID
is rapidly becoming a universal system. It brings together disparate
publication data and interoperate with a wide variety of information
systems.
You are invited to create your ORCID iD and connect it with your
Stellenbosch University identity. Please click
here. If
you already have an ORCID iD, please sign in to your account from the
button below and connect your iD with your SU identity.
What is ORCID?
Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) is a non-profit
organisation funded by institutional memberships, grant-making
organisations and wide variety of research organisations and publishers.
ORCID is a persistent, unique, numeric identifier for individual
researchers and creators. It distinguishes you from researchers and
creators with the same or similar names.ORCID is similar to
ResearcherID, Scopus Author ID, ISNI and other systems for identifying
and distinguishing researchers and creators, but ORCID is rapidly
becoming a universal system. It brings together disparate publication
data and interoperate with a wide variety of information systems.
Please read more about the benefits of using ORCID on the
Library guide for ORCID and other researcher identifiers.
Other author/researcher identifiers:
- Researcher ID
- Scopus Author ID
- Google Scholar ID
Please see more information on these researcher identifiers on the library guide on
ORCID and other researcher identifiers.Improving Impact by Online Visibility
It is important for researchers to control
their own online presence. What will one find when one enter your name
into Google? What do you want them to find? See below some advice on
improving your online visibility, in order that others will find the
information you want them to find and also to improve your citations.
Institutional and open repositories
Self-archive your research publications in Stellenbosch University's institutional repository
SUNScholar (if the publisher allows it) and other subject repositories such as
arXiv.org or
SSRN. This will help make your research discoverable, your citations might increase and Google will track when you have been cited.
Professional networking sites
Your
LinkedIn profile
may be the top item on a Google search using your name, therefore it is
important to make sure that the information on your profile is accurate
and up to date.
Profiles focusing on your research products
The following products focus specifically on your research. Creating
and maintaining your profile on these sites will make others aware of
your research and help you see the impact of your work on the research community:
ORCID,
Kudos,
figshare,
ImpactStory.
Social media
Twitter
is very popular among researchers as a place to share recent
publications, opinions about research on your topic and many more. A
Facebook profile may also be used to share information about your research.
Academic networking sites for researchers
ResearchGate,
academia.edu and
Mendeley are examples of academic networking sites for researchers. You can discover new research on your topic (sometimes even including full text articles), find collaborators and update your online profile. Your profiles will show when someone searches your name on Google.
Research Group websites
It
is helpful to have and maintain a detailed research group or
departmental website. It is important to update it regularly with your
recent publications and research interests. You may also consider to
start a research group blog where you can share any content about your
research group or their work.
