ERIC Number: EJ865522
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Nov
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1360-080X
EISSN: N/A
Measuring Research Quality Using the Journal Impact Factor, Citations and "Ranked Journals": Blunt Instruments or Inspired Metrics?
Jarwal, Som D.; Brion, Andrew M.; King, Maxwell L.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, v31 n4 p289-300 Nov 2009
This paper examines whether three bibliometric indicators--the journal impact factor, citations per paper and the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative's list of "ranked journals"--can predict the quality of individual research articles as assessed by international experts, both overall and within broad disciplinary groupings. The analysis is based on data obtained from a Mock Research Quality Framework (RQF) exercise conducted by Monash University during 2006-07 in which external assessors rated research articles for their quality using a five-point scale. Although a significant relationship exists between all three bibliometric variables and the overall Mock RQF assessor quality scores, only a relatively small amount of the variance (generally less than 20 per cent) could be explained. There is some evidence that the relationship is stronger within some disciplinary groupings than others. The findings suggest caution should be exercised when using these indicators as proxies for research quality. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Bibliometrics, Measurement Techniques, Audits (Verification), Educational Quality, Journal Articles, Scoring Rubrics, Likert Scales, Replication (Evaluation), Educational Indicators, Predictor Variables, Higher Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A