Research strengths identified by esteem and bibliometric indicators: a case study at the University of Vienna
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Research strengths identified by esteem and bibliometric indicators: a case study at the University of Vienna Johannes Sorz1 · Wolfgang Glänzel2,3 · Ursula Ulrych4 · Christian Gumpenberger4 · Juan Gorraiz4 Received: 14 December 2019 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The identification of one’s own research strengths is of crucial importance for research administration at universities. In this case study, two different approaches were applied to the University of Vienna. The first relies on funding and rankings information as well as on other esteem indicators. The second is based on a bibliometric analysis of the publication output. We used two alternative clusterings for publications for the bibliometric analysis: Web of Science subject categories and lists of researchers associated with esteem-indicators. Both, esteem-indicators and bibliometric analysis proved to be useful in identifying research strengths, lead to similar results and are meant to be used together to complement each other. We found that the greatest hindrance in the bibliometric approach lies in the inherent limitations of journals-assignment-based classification systems and the considerable time and efforts for more accurate researcher-based publication analyses. Further investigation on this subject, including new and alternative metrics, is needed and will be conducted in the future. However, the preliminary results already demonstrate the benefits of using esteem-factors together with bibliometric analyses for research strengths definition of universities. Keywords Bibliometric indicators · Esteem factors · Institutional research strengths · University management · Science administration · Citation analysis · Citation impact analysis
Background and Introduction To establish a specific research profile, the identification of strengths and weaknesses in research and teaching is imperative for a modern international university, especially in times of economic strain. There are various attempts described and documented in literature, e.g. by Fang and Casadevall (2016), Welpe et al. (2015), van Vught and Huisman (2014) and Ouchi (1979). With its 6700 academics, including more than 400 professors, the University of Vienna is the largest research and educational institution in Austria. The * Johannes Sorz [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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vast array of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research is organized in 20 Faculties covering common research fields (theology, law, business, economics and statistics, computer science, historical and philological studies, social sciences, psychology, life sciences, natural sciences, mathematics). During a periodical discussion process the scientists of the University of Vienna define a characteristic set of key-research areas for their faculty (bottom-up approach without quantitative analyses), e.g. “Quantum optics, quantum nanophysics and quantum information” (Faculty of Physics), “Governance, democracy,
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