Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 5-8 September 2012 http://2012.sticonference.org/

Bibliometric data sourced from Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge (formerly referred to as ISI Web of Science). Web of Science (WoS) accessed online 01.03-05.04.2012

Conclusions   International and non-international publication productivities represent

different aspects of research performance.   International peer esteem is related to the productivity in international

media, and to the % of all publications that is in international media.  An output-driven funding or evaluation model should, according to its

aims, take into account the different roles and characteristics of international and non-international publication media.

Introduction The international publication and citation databases Web of Science and Scopus are increasingly used in evaluation and funding systems. Both enlarged their coverage towards local media in social sciences. The mostly international journals available earlier were the basis for the development of current standard bibliometric indicators.

The same indicators may no longer measure exactly the same concepts when applied to newly introduced or extended media categories, with possibly different characteristics

than those of international journals. This paper investigates differences between media with and without international

dimension in publication data at team and author level.

Data (all domains, local data)  Peer ratings: overall score, scientific merit, planning, innovation,

team quality, feasibility, productivity, scientific impact (scale 1-10)  Publication productivity per leading researcher in media with and

without international referee system/conference scope: contributions in journals, books and proceedings

  from research assessments per discipline by international expert panels (report years 1998 to 2011, each concerning a 5 year period)

Methodology  Normalization of the data per discipline  Grouped in two broad domains ‘Social sciences and humanities’ (D1)

and ‘Basic, applied and biomedical sciences’ (D2)  Correlations between publication productivity and peer ratings

Findings  Productivities in international and non-international subcategories are

uncorrelated for D1-teams, 88% of which publish in both  Higher peer esteem corresponds to higher productivity for the

subcategories with international dimension only, observed for contributions in journals, books and conference proceedings

Data (selected domains and countries)  Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) publications, distinguishing

English and non-English publications as a proxy for international and non-international media (types article, letter and review, 2006-2010)

Methodology  Selection of 5 subject categories and 5 countries with highest %

non-English publications, >1000 in number, aiming for environments with high presence and coverage of non-English publications

 Selection of 3 country-subject combinations with high % non-English publications (to avoid low local journal coverage) and substantial number of English publications (to avoid closed science systems):

 Selection of samples of authors mainly situated in each combination and active in the entire 5 year period: both English and local language publications, ≥3 publications affiliated to the selected subject category and country, ≥50% publications in the selected subject category, and publications in the earliest and the most recent of the 5 years

 Correlations (per sample) between bibliometric parameters determined for each author: number of publications, % in English, and separately for English and non-English publications: % uncited and highest number of citations to a publication (until 2011) as a proxy for peer esteem

Findings  Uncorrelated productivities in English versus non-English subcategories  Higher numbers of citations to English publications correspond to a

higher % English language publications in an author’s record:

N = 43 r = 0.581 p = <.0001

N = 61 r = 0.398 p = 0.00075

N = 43 r = -0.355 p = 0.0097

N = 53 r = 0.021 p = 0.44

Characteristics of International versus Non-International Scientific Publication Media in Team- and Author-Based Data

Nadine Rons, Nadine.Rons@vub.ac.be, http://rd-ir.vub.ac.be/en_GB/people/show/id/554 Research Coordination Unit, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium

Opportunities for further study: more thorough examination of the international dimension’s role and its variability with country, language or discipline, using the enhanced possibilities in international databases (media coverage, author identification).