Bibliometrics: How to assess the impact of your publications

Bibliometric data are increasingly being used to assess the impact of research, to track and evaluate research activity. For example, UK Higher Education's Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE, will include the use of bibliometric data. The data are available from a range of sources and there are various different measures which can be applied. The following tools are available to help authors assess the impact of their publications.

Providing an open access copy of an article can improve its visibility and thus the likelihood of it being cited by others.  For more information about open access initiatives, see the library's open access factsheet.

What measures are there?

The most commonly used measures to assess the impact of a particular publication or of a particular researcher are:

Useful tools:

Impact factors

The impact factor of a journal is a quantitative tool for evaluating the relative importance of a journal. It is a measure of the frequency with which its published papers are cited up to two years after publication. Read more about impact factors in the Library's factsheet [PDF].

To find out an impact factor use Journal Citation Reports. JCR is available within Web of Knowledge and is the key source of information about the impact of a journal, giving impact factors, cited half-life and immediacy index for each title. JCR covers specialties in the areas of science, technology, and the social sciences and is updated annually in two editions. The Science edition covers over 5,000 journals; the Social Sciences edition covers over 1,500 journals.

Other journal-based metrics

SCImago Journal & Country Rank uses algorithms similar to Google Page Ranking and is based on data in the Scopus database. Unlike JCR, it does cover some arts and humanities subjects. Read more about SCImago Journal & Country Rankings in the Library's factsheet [PDF].

The Eigenfactor metrics use a similar methodology to SCImago based on data from the Web of Science database. Read more about Eigenfactor metrics in the Library's factsheet [PDF].

h-index

The h-index (or Hirsch index) is a relatively new, but increasingly important, method of assessing the impact of an individual's publications. The h-index uses a calculation based on the citation rates of an author's published papers. For more information about the h-index see articles in PNAS and Nature.

How to calculate your h-index

The Library has produced two guides on how to calculate your h-index.

Times cited

Web of Science gives access to citation indexes which are key tools for the production of bibliometric data. The database allows you to search for an article and find out how many times it has been cited. Authors can also use Web of Science view the citation patterns for their own articles and calculate their h-index.

[This content was originally developed by the Rockefeller Medical Library UCL Institute of Neurology & National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and is re-used with permission]

ResearcherID

Web of Knowledge have introduced a feature called ResearcherID. This allows an author to set up a (free) unique personal identifier which can be linked to their publications within the Web of Science, regardless of any variations in the use of their name and regardless of their affiliation when a particular paper was published. ResearcherID helps to uniquely identify an individual researcher, which can be difficult for people with a common surname. ResearcherID also ensures the correct attribution of papers and the accuracy of bibliometric analyses.

To register & set up your ResearcherID

  • Login to Web of Knowledge.
  • From the WoK front page go to the section called Customize your Experience and then choose Register.
  • When you have set up an account and logged in, choose My ResearcherID from the toolbar at the top of the screen.
  • Fill in the details as requested to complete your registration.

For more information about ResearcherID, visit the website. For help setting up your profile, please contact the Library.

Google Scholar Citations

In the 'My Citations' service - you can create a profile and track your publications' citations in Google Scholar.