Applied Evaluative Informetrics

This book focuses on applied evaluative informetric artifacts or topics. It explains the base notions and assumptions of evaluative informetrics by discussing a series of important applications. The structure of the book is therefore not organized by methodological characteristics, but is centered around popular, often discussed or used informetric artifacts - indicators, methodologies, products, databases - or so called hot topics in which informetric indicators play an important role. Most of the artifacts and topics emerged during the past decade. The principal aim of the book is to present a state of the art in applied evaluative informetrics, and to inform the readers about the pros and cons, potentialities and limitations of the use of informetric/bibliometric indicators in research assessment. The book is a continuation of the book  Citation Analysis in Research Evaluation  (Springer, 2005). It is of interest to non-specialists, especially research students at advanced master level and higher, all those subjected to quantitative research assessment, research managers and other users of applied informetric techniques, and interested scholars from all domains of science and scholarship.

Henk F. Moed is a former senior staff member and full professor of research assessment methodologies in the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in Science Studies at the University of Leiden in 1989. He has been active in numerous research topics, including: the creation of bibliometric databases from raw data from Thomson Scientific's Web of Science and Elsevier's Scopus; analysis of inaccuracies in citation matching; assessment of the potentialities and pitfalls of journal impact factors; the development and application of science indicators for the measurement of research performance in the basic natural- and life sciences; the use of bibliometric indicators as a tool to assess peer review procedures; the development and application of performance indicators in social sciences and humanities; studies of the effects of 'Open Access' upon research impact and studies of patterns in 'usage' (downloading) behaviour of users of electronic scientific publication warehouses; studies of the effects of the use of bibliometric indicators upon scientific authors and journal publishers.