citation success: what does it mean & how do you achieve it?

Citation Success: What does it mean & how do

you achieve it?

Graham H. PykeSchool of the Environment

University of Technology Sydney

I dedicate this lecture to my parents, Tom and Margery Pyke

Citation Success:My message today

• Citations matter, both to individuals and their institutions, hugely now & even more in future;

• I have (credibly) worked out the ‘secrets’ to citation success;

• I plan to provide some further guidance in the future.

However …

• I am not claiming that counting citations is the only, or the best, thing to do

• That might be a topic for some other occasion

What are citations?

• A reference within a presentation (written or oral) to another presentation

• Reference identifies author(s) & location of presentation

• Points to another presentation that provides relevant material (supporting, inspiring, incorrect, disliked etc)

=> Importance of citations

Importance of Citations

Citations are fundamentally important because ….

Each citation indicates an influence of the original presentation on another

And henceThe accumulated number of citations to a

particular presentation provides a measure of its total influence

Citations vs Contribution to literature

Citations & Influence (i.e., Contribution, Impact etc) are generally correlated

BUT

• Specific to different areas(e.g., Ecology\ Environment vs Medicine)

• Poorly correlated in some areas(e.g., Systematics\ Taxonomy)

Citations:Today’s focus vs Other things

• Research (not other scholarly activities)• Publications of articles in journals and books

(not other presentations)However …

Much of what I have to say is relevant to all kinds of scholarly activity and presentation

Keeping count of citations: Initially a research tool

• Eugene Garfield – from ~1960• Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)• Scientific Citation Index (SCI) =>Later other citation indices• Current Contents

Tables of contents for journals (initially several hundred for biology & medicine)

Author contact detailsKeyword index‘Citation Classics’Manual to computer-based

Counting Citations:Some basic issues

• Publication venues• Date period for original published articles• Date period for citations=>Different approaches

• Self-citations (author, institution, country)• Disambiguation of names (authors, journals,

institutions)=>General approaches

Citation Information:What are the sources?

• Scopus• Web of Knowledge (includes ISI indices &

others)• Google Scholar

All scholarly publicationsTime periods without limit=>Hence …Includes highest % of published articles (~95% in

my case vs ~60% for others)Gives highest citation counts (~6500 in my case vs

about ~5000 for the others)

Evaluations using Citations

• Article• Journal• Author• Institution

Citation evaluation: Articles

• Time course of citations

• Evaluation criteriaTotalImmediacyRecent‘Highly-cited’

Citation evaluation: Journals

• Impact Factor= Average number of citations per recent article• RankingÞ Authors &

institutions target journals with highest impact factors

• Very High ~20ScienceNature

• High ~10

• Others

Citation evaluation: Authors

• Total citations • Avg citations per published article• Hirst- or H-index= Number N such that author has published N articles with at least N citations each=>Total citations & H-index increasingly reported & used

Citation evaluation: Authors

• Position

• Tenure/ Promotion

• Funding (e.g., grants)

Citation evaluation: Institutions

• Indices & rankings influence student enrolments, funding, donations & bequests

• Both international & national

• They all include citations

Shanghai Jiao Tong Index(aka Academic Ranking of World

Universities)• Innocent beginnings, now big business• Criteria:

Nobel Prizes/ Fields Medals (30%)Highly-cited Researchers (20%)Articles in Nature & Science (20%)Science Citation Index & Social Sciences Citation

Index (20%)Per capita academic performance re citations

(10%)

UTS & the SJT Index

• UTS World Rank according to SJT :Up till 2010 - >5002011 - 4872012 - 460

• Highly-cited authors

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

YEAR

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

HIG

HLY

-CIT

ED

AU

THO

RS

AT

UTS

# highly-cited authors:Putting it in perspective

• UTS 4• Macquarie Uni 5• Uni of Sydney 7• Uni of Melb 10• ANU 17• Harvard / Stanford ~100

Citation Success:Who cares?

• Universities• Other Agencies (e.g., Funding)• Colleagues• IndividualsÞCitations matter, for everyone,

now and will matter increasingly in the future

Citations:A fundamental conclusion

Both individual authors, and their institutions, will need to pay increasing attention to citations and adopt strategies aimed at enhancing them.

Such strategies should reinforce one another.

Citations:A strategy for individual success?

• The good news is that ….

There is a strategy, suitable for anyone, that should lead to enhanced citation success

Citation Success: Why listen to me?• Relevant experience & achievementsBUT …• Vaguely aware in past, but paid negligible

attention• Thinking/ talking about it since Nov 2011• Commenced analysing my own citations just a

few days agoSO …• My past was independent of any consideration

of citation success or how to achieve it

Citation Success: Why listen to me?• #’s CitationsÞ ~ 6,500 in totalÞ ‘ISI Highly-cited’ Author

Citation Success:Why listen to me?

#’s citations per published article

Þ Consistently high

Þ H-index 34

0 1 2 3 4LOG10 (# CITATIONS)

0

5

10

15

20

25

CO

UN

T

Citation Success:Why listen to me?

• Co-authored articles with other highly-cited authors

• Four highly-cited authorsRic CharnovPaul EhrlichRon PulliamNick Waser

• Senior author for 3 of 4 articles (excl. book reviews etc)

Citation Success: Why listen to me?• Other ‘highly-cited’

authors as colleagues• Other Universities

• UTS –

Geoff Anstis (Materials Science)

John Geweke (Economics/ Business)

Matt Wand (mathematics)

Citation Success:Why listen to me?

• Personal experience

• Comparing notes with others

• Limited analysis

All these lead to the same conclusions

Citations: The ‘secrets’ to success

My ‘Secrets’ should lead to both: ÞEnhanced citation successÞEnhanced contribution to literature

My ‘Secrets’ are not profound (obvious, straightforward, universally applicable) and yet highly profound at the same time (rarely well adopted)

Citation Success:Format for what follows

• For each ‘secret’ …

Recipe

Example from my research

Citation Success:Secret #1 - Recipe

SIGNIFICANCE re issue or question(Prospective vs. retrospective)Choose an issue or question (prospective) or set your work within a context (retrospective) of high significance (i.e., importance, relevance, usefulness)… the higher the better… but need to credible

Citation Success:Secret #1 - Example

• Question:

Why do animals (& other organisms) forage (or feed) the way they do?

Citation Success:Secret #1 - Example

Significant because …All organisms ‘forage’;Foraging is important to individual organisms;Foraging often a major activity re time & energy;Including foraging is necessary for understanding

other phenomena & patterns (e.g., other aspects of behaviour, population dynamics, inter-species interactions, structure of communities, patterns of co-evolution).

Citation Success:Secret #2 - Recipe

INFLUENCE of publication or presentation

(Looking forward or looking back)

Seek to have as much influence as possible, through changing how people think, what they say, and what they do.

Citation Success:Secret #2 - Example

• Question:

Why do animals (& other organisms) forage the way they do?

• Approach advocated:

Optimal Foraging Theory

• Influence sought:

Adopt the approach

Citation Success:Secret #3 - Recipe

PRESENTATIONS(Looking backwards)

Give presentations that are captivating, compelling & memorable.

Citation Success:Secret #3 - Example

My publications re Optimal Foraging Theory

This lecture?

Citation Success:Secret #4 - Recipe

SUSTAIN the approach

Don’t just do it; keep doing it.

Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example

• My citations

Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example

Seeking to influence Yes No # journal articles 21 66 Min # citations 0 0 Max # citations 1833 161 Avg # citations 217 25 S.E. 93 4

Citation Success: The Secrets in Summary

• SIPS …SignificanceInfluencePresentationSustained

• Really …Approach or Mindset

• What else ….ToolsMentoring or Advice

Citation Success:Tools #1 - Significance

• Identify questions &/or issues

• Hierarchy

• Evaluate

Citation Success:Tools #1 - Example

• Why do animals forage the way they do?• Do animals forage in ways that are consistent

with Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT)?• Do bumblebees forage in ways that maximise

Net Rate of Energy Intake?• Is the foraging behaviour of bumblebee species

X, while taking nectar from flowers of plant sp Y, in location Z, consistent with this hypothesis?

• Different aspects of foraging behaviour (e.g., choice, departure, movement)

Citation Success:Tools #1 - Significance

• Evaluation criteriaLevelInterestAchievableSimple & ClearCredible

• Scoring system=> Hierarchical Context with Significance Max at each Level

Citation Success:Tool #1 – The end result

Issues/ questions of high significance to either pursue or use as context for work already undertaken

Citation Success:Tools #2 - Influence

• Who?

• What?

• How?

Citation Success:Tools #2 - Example

• Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do?

• Who?

All ecologists & behaviourists

& ??

Citation Success:Tools #2 - Influence

• Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do?

• What influence?

Adopt the OFT approach.

Citation Success:Tools #2 - Influence

• Question: Why do organisms forage the way they do?

• How?

Review the literature, critically & constructively, & provide examples of successful application of OFT approach

Citation Success:Tool #2: Influence – The end result

Plan with targeted audience, goal in terms of influence, methods for achieving goal

Influence: What about it?

Seeking to influence is the most important aspect of achieving citation success

Influence requires a mission, passion, arrogance & confidence

Citation Success:Tool #3 - Presentation

• Standard approach …LogicalKISSShortConcise

• Plus extras …CaptivatingCompellingMemorable

Presentation:Graham’s Standard Approach to writing

• Logical order of simple points• These are lead sentences of separate

paragraphs• One point per paragraphÞApplies to articles, reviews, grant proposals,

reports etcÞTest & Consequences

Writing:Test & Consequences

Test

Combine lead sentences of each paragraph into single body of text.

Convey ‘story’ simply & completely

Understandable to almost anyone.

Writing:Test & Consequences

Consequences

Basis for abstract or summary(Emphasise introduction, discussion & conclusion)

Basis for being captivating, compelling & memorable

Citation Success:Presentations – The Extra Stuff

Captivating

• Focus on reader

Attention Read on

• Progression

Title Abstract/ Summary Introduction

Citation Success:Presentations – The Extra Stuff

Compelling & Memorable• What …

Convey …SignificanceInfluence

• How …Brainstorm – title, major pointsShow to colleague, friend etc

Citation Success:Presentations

Present story that is captivating, compelling and memorable, in a simple, concise and logical manner.

Citation Success:Tools #4 - Sustaining what it takes

• Work position & environment

• Determination & passion

• Balance in life

Citation Success:The strategy so far

• Approach (SIPS) = Mindset• Tools

=>Mentoring

Citation Success:Mentoring

Seek the best possible mentoring & take advantage of any resulting advice or other assistance

Work in pairs or groups

Citation Success:Strategy at a glance

• Adopt the SIPS approachSignificanceInfluencePresentationSustain

• Within an overall ATM strategyApproachToolsMentoring

Citation Success:No better alternative

Citation Success:Graham’s further advice & assistance

• Who?

From stage of developing first research project to still wishing to have influence

I.e., Postgrad students to Professors(including myself!)

Citation Success:Graham’s further advice & assistance

• How?

MentoringTrain the trainerWorkshopsWritten step-wise program

Citation Success:Graham’s further advice & assistance

• When?

=>New year ≥ Feb or Mar

• Notification

=>New year ≥ Jan or Feb

Citation Success vs Quality of research(or other scholarly activity)

• Significance• Influence• Presentation• Sustain

=>Improved quality of research (or other scholarly activity)

=> Other endeavours?

Citation Success:Final Comment

Adopting the recommended approach & tools should lead to both enhanced citation success and improved research quality

=>Therefore worth doing regardless of how academic landscape may change in the future

Citation Success:Balance in Life

Citation Success:Balance in Life