Bibliometric Analysis of New Zealand Research Performance: Measurement and Classification Issues

80 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2018

See all articles by Adam B. Jaffe

Adam B. Jaffe

Brandeis University; Motu Economic and Public Policy Research; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Kate Preston

Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Date Written: June 01, 2018

Abstract

Bibliometric databases on publications and their citations offer the possibility to quantify the scale and impact of this key output of scientific research. But there are many decisions to be made about how to construct these bibliometric measures, and no global consensus on how best to do so. We consider several measures of research output across scientific disciplines in New Zealand and test their sensitivity to a number of methodological choices. Factors considered include which publications to include in the analysis, ways to count publications co-authored by both local and international authors, and procedures for normalising citations. We also explore the potential to assign publications to disciplines by semantic analysis and a way to construct confidence intervals for the measures. The findings provide insight into the extent to which these methodological considerations impact on bibliometric results, and their interpretation, and how uncertainty in the results can be quantified.

Keywords: bibliometrics, citations, normalisation, counting method, journal classification, confidence intervals

JEL Classification: O39

Suggested Citation

Jaffe, Adam B. and Preston, Kate, Bibliometric Analysis of New Zealand Research Performance: Measurement and Classification Issues (June 01, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3187107 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3187107

Adam B. Jaffe (Contact Author)

Brandeis University ( email )

Waltham, MA 02454-9110
United States
781-736-2251 (Phone)
781-736-2263 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.brandeis.edu/global/people/faculty/jaff

Motu Economic and Public Policy Research ( email )

Level 1, 93 Cuba Street
P.O. Box 24390
Wellington, 6142
New Zealand

HOME PAGE: http://motu.org.nz

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Kate Preston

Motu Economic and Public Policy Research ( email )

Level 1, 93 Cuba Street
P.O. Box 24390
Wellington, 6142
New Zealand

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