Becoming Metric-wise: A Bibliometric Guide for Researchers

Becoming Metric-Wise: A Bibliometric Guide for Researchers aims to inform researchers about metrics so that they become aware of the evaluative techniques being applied to their scientific output. Understanding these concepts will help them during their funding initiatives, and in hiring and tenure. The book not only describes what indicators do (or are designed to do, which is not always the same thing), but also gives precise mathematical formulae so that indicators can be properly understood and evaluated. Metrics have become a critical issue in science, with widespread international discussion taking place on the subject across scientific journals and organizations.

As researchers should know the publication-citation context, the mathematical formulae of indicators being used by evaluating committees and their consequences, and how such indicators might be misused, this book provides an ideal tome on the topic.

• Provides researchers with a detailed understanding of bibliometric indicators and their applications
• Empowers researchers looking to understand the indicators relevant to their work and careers
• Presents an informed and rounded picture of bibliometrics, including the strengths and shortcomings of particular indicators
• Supplies the mathematics behind bibliometric indicators so they can be properly understood
• Written by authors with longstanding expertise who are considered global leaders in the field of bibliometrics

Dr Ronald Rousseau is Researcher at The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in the Department of Industrial Sciences and Technology. Rousseau; with Leo Egghe, received the Derek de Solla Price award on scientometrics (2001). He is the former president of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, and co-author of Introduction to Informetrics, also published by Elsevier.

Leo Egghe is the founding Editor in Chief of the Elsevier Journal, Journal of Informetrics. Along with Ronald Rousseau, he received the Derek de Solla Price award on scientometrics (2001) and was in 2014 among highly cited scientists according to Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics.

Raf Guns is a researcher at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He received the 2013 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award for his doctoral dissertation: ‘Missing links: Predicting interactions based on a multi-relational network structure with applications in informetrics’.