Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring impact by a full option method and the notion of bibliometric spectra

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A full option method for determining impact takes into account citations to all cited publications, instead of limiting the analysis to ISI-publications only, as usually done in the standard method. The method was tested for the 258 early Ghent professors, teaching in 6 different faculties. The impact of monographs is, in general, much larger than the impact of articles (whether of ISI-type or not). This result remains valid for all six faculties separately. Limiting the bibliometric visibility to ISI-publications reduces the number of citations to only 16%. Bibliometric spectra are presented, in which citations, cited publications and their impact are shown in function of the year of publication. The number of cited publications is always important to expose the influence of activity (production) upon bibliometric scores. For the faculty of Arts, the citations to early professors are compared with those obtained for the presentday generation: the bibliometric spectrum for the former group is rather discontinuous (showing a large erosion in the number of citations by year), whereas that of the latter is continuous. The Ghent citation data are also compared with those given internationally in the same period.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bayers, N., Small, H. (1996), Private communication, July 19, 1996.

  • Bradford, S.C. (1934), Sources of information on specific subjects,Engineering, 137: 85–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calza, L., Garbisa, S. (1995), Italian professorships,Nature, 374: 492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Mey, M., Braeckman, J., Claes, T. (1994),Wetenschap als Cultuur, VRWB, Brussel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Descheemaeker, K., Oleo, M., Raspoet, D. (Eds.), (1995),Valorisatie van Onderzoek, Garant, Leuven/Apeldoorn.

  • Egghe, L., Rousseau, R. (1990),Introduction to Informetrics, Quantitative methods in Library, Documentation and Information Science, Amsterdam, Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egghe, L., Rousseau, R. (1995), Generalized success-breeds-success principle leading to time-dependent informetric distributions,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 46: 426–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfield, E. (1983),Citation Indexing-Its Theory and Application in Science, Technology, and Humanities, ISI Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korevaar, J. C., Moed, H.F., Luwel, M. et. al. (1995),Bibliometrsiche Indicatoren met betrekking tot Wiskundig Onderzoek, Rapport Onderzoeksco-ördinatie KULeuven en Onderzoeksraad U Antwerpen, Leiden.

  • Liber (1913),Liber Memorialis, Notices Biographiques, Université de Gand, Gand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindholm-Romantschuk, Y., Warner, J. (1996), The role of monographs in scholarly communication: an empirical study of philosophy, sociology and economics,Journal of Documentation, 52: 389–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moed, H.F., De Bruin, R.E., Beerens, J., Vriend, I., Luwel, M. (1991),De omvang en de internationale positie van het wetenschappelijk onderzoek in de faculteiten Geneeskunde en Wetenschappen van de Universiteit Gent: Een Bibliometrische Studie, Rapport ten behoeve van de Raad van Bestuur van de Universiteit Gent. Gent/Leiden.

  • Moed, H.F., De Bruin, R.E., Van Der Velde, J.G.M., Luwel, M., Kint, A. (1993),De Tweede Gentse bilbiometriestudie. Rapport ten behoeve van de Raad van Bestuur van de Universiteit Gent. Gent/Leiden.

  • Price, D. de Solla (1976), A general theory of bibliometric and other cumulative advantage processes,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 27: 292–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, R. (1995),A Scientometric Study of the Scientific Publications of LUC (Limburgs Universitair Centrum) Period 1981–1993, LUC, Diepenbeek, report (in dutch).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, R., Van Hooydonk, G. (1996), Journal production and journal impact-factors,Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 47(10): 775–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Hooydonk, G. (in press), Standardizing relative impacts: estimating the quality of research from citation counts,Journal of the American Society for Information Science.

  • Van Hooydonk, G. (1995), In: Academisch Jaarverslag 1994, van de RUG, Gent.

  • Van Hooydonk, G. (1996), Bibliometrc spectra of the early Ghent professors. Gent (in dutch, with large English summary).

  • Yaalon, D.H. (1995), More on citation analysis,Nature, 378: 760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Library Sciences, University of Ghent, Rozier 9, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium

    G. Van Hooydonk & Greta Milis-Proost

Authors
  1. G. Van Hooydonk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Greta Milis-Proost
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Van Hooydonk, G., Milis-Proost, G. Measuring impact by a full option method and the notion of bibliometric spectra. Scientometrics 41, 169–183 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02457976

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02457976

Keywords

Search

Navigation