The application of citation-based performance classes to the disciplinary and multidisciplinary assessment in national comparison and institutional research assessment

• Published in: Scientometrics Vol. 101; no. 2; pp. 939 - 952
• Main Authors: Glänzel, Wolfgang, Thijs, Bart, Debackere, Koenraad
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.11.2014; Springer
• Subjects: Bibliometrics. Scientometrics; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics. Evaluation; Citation analysis; Computer Science; Distributions; Evaluation; Exact sciences and technology; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Information Storage and Retrieval; Library and information science. General aspects; Library Science; Sciences and techniques of general use; Subject fields; Characteristic scores and scales; Performance classes; Crossnational; Comparison; Institutional assessment; Citation distributions; Scientometrics; Scientific research; Citation; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0138-9130; 1588-2861
• DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1247-1

The analysis of the high end of citation distributions represented by its tail provides important supplementary information on the citation profile of the unit under study. In a previous study by Glänzel (Scientometrics 97:13–23, 2013a ), a parameter-free solution providing four performance classes has been proposed. Unlike in methods based on pre-set percentiles, this method is not sensitive to ties and ensures needless integration of measures of outstanding and even extreme performance into the standard tools of scientometric performance assessment. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated for both subject analysis and the combination of different subjects at the macro and meso level.