Can usage be used for scholars’ evaluation in the construction of smart libraries?
ISSN: 0737-8831
Article publication date: 4 March 2020
Issue publication date: 14 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
With the development of Web2.0 and publishing digitalization, traditional libraries and evaluation citation system can no longer indicate academic paper influence validly. Therefore, it is necessary to construct smart library and find the evaluation effect of Internet metrics-Usage.
Design/methodology/approach
This study puts forward four indexes of scholars’ evaluation based on Usage (total Usage (U), average Usage rate (U/N), hu-index and pu-index), which refer to citation indexes, takes the 35 high-output scholars in the field of library and information science in the WoS database as examples, analyzes performance of different scholars evaluation indexes based on Usage and compares the differences and correlations between “citation indicators” and “usage indicators.”
Findings
This study results show that pu-index is the strongest index to evaluate scholars. Second, there is a high correlation and strong mechanism based on time dependence and interactions between Usage and citation. Third, compared to “citation indicators”, the “usage indicators” has a larger numerical value and wider measurement range, which can break the time limitation of citation, and scientifically evaluate young scholars and newly published paper by scholars.
Originality/value
This paper proposes the pu-index – a relatively superior mathematical model for Usage and provides reference for the scholars’ evaluation policy of the smart library. This model can not only provide fair evaluation conditions for young scientists but also shorten the evaluation effect of the time lag of cited indicators. In addition, the “usage indicators” in this paper are new scientific evaluation indicators generated in the network environment. Applying it to the academic evaluation system will make the research papers widely accepted by the public and will also encourage scientists to follow the development of the Internet age and pursue research with equal emphasis on quantity and quality.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank every anonymous referee for important insightful comments and suggestions. This research is funded by Major Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number 19ATQ006) and Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71420107026). This paper forms part of a special section “Informetrics on Social Network Mining: Research, Policy and Practice challenges - Part 2”, guest edited by Mu-Yen Chen, Chien-Hsiang Liao, Edwin David Lughofer and Erol Egrioglu.
Citation
Liu, Y., Li, C. and Gao, Z. (2022), "Can usage be used for scholars’ evaluation in the construction of smart libraries?", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 45-61. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-09-2019-0191
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited