Bibliometrics is a term used to describe statistics that measure usage of research publications based on citation counts and patterns. Data can be collected at the level of an article, a journal title, or at the level of an author.
This guide outlines the main bibliometric measures that are available, their limitations, and how to use bibliometrics in a responsible way.
Bibliometrics can be used to evaluate the influence of an individual research output, such as a journal article, or a collection of research outputs, such as all works by a particular author, research group or institution.
They can be used to provide insight into academic publications for individual researchers, for research groups, or at an institutional level.
Some examples of what bibliometrics are used for include:
There are many factors that affect citations to publications. When using bibliometric data, you should:
High citations do not directly correlate to high quality, and a portfolio of metrics, including both quantitative and qualitative should always be used in research evaluation.
Some of the key limitations of bibliometrics relate to:
The document below provides further explanation about limitations
DMU is committed to evaluating research in a fair and equitable way.
The University is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment.