Measuring the visibility of the university's scientific production through scientometric methods: An exploratory study at the Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define the scientific production and productivity, and to present the main indicators for the measurement of the scientific activity. The impact of the research is to be measured and analyzed through citation analysis.

Design/methodology

This is an exploratory study made at the Transilvania University of Brasov to evaluate the research output of the faculty. The author analyzed the 2008 research performance as documented in its annual evaluation that states the number of papers, books, and research contracts. Using Publish or Perish, the author calculated the H‐index, G‐index, HC‐index and HI norm, of the 60 more‐productive professors. Correlation indicators are presented and the importance of open access tools and repositories for increasing the impact of scientific research is discussed.

Findings

The Publish or Perish software is an easy to use instrument for analyzing the impact of research. It calculates the impact of the researchers using the very visible resource, Google Scholar. Google Scholar has better indexing of proceedings and non‐English language material than ISI Web of Science but does not perform so well tracking citations from books and chapters of books.

Research limitations/implications

Authors' impact analysis and citations are not an assessment tool in Romanian universities, but it is commonly accepted that increasing research impact through more citations is one qualitative indicator.

Practical implications

It was suggested to the faculty that all professors have to be analysed with the same indicator. Further, Google Scholar and the H‐index obtained using Publish or Perish offer tools for assessing scientific research in a university and for evaluating professors.

Social implications

The results showed that an open access institutional repository would significantly add to the visibility of the university's scientific production.

Originality/value

The paper presents the methodology and the results of an exploratory study made at the Transilvania University of Brasov regarding the H‐Index of the academic staff. It analyzes the research performances achieved by Brasov academic community in 2008, as realised in its annual evaluation – number of papers, books, research contracts, etc. – by comparing the four indexes of those 60 professors with the best results.

Citation

Repanovici, A. (2011), "Measuring the visibility of the university's scientific production through scientometric methods: An exploratory study at the Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 106-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/14678041111149345