Bibliometrics & Open Metrics
Bibliometrics 'measures' scientific publications using quantitative methods. You can use bibliometric analysis as evaluation tool or as research tool.
Frequent Bibliometric Indicators
| Citation frequency | Indicates how often a publication has been cited in other scientific publications. |
|---|---|
| Impact factor | Indicates how often articles of a journal are cited on average (see specifications in Wikipedia). |
| h-Index | Value indicates the number X publications of a person that have been cited at least X times (see specifications in Wikipedia). |
| Altmetrics | Metrics based on machine evaluation of modern forms of communication in relation to individual articles (consult altmetrics). |
Benefits and Limitations of Bibliometrics
Bibliometric measurements alone are not sufficient to assess the importance of a research output - they cannot replace qualitative assessments. Nevertheless, bibliometric indicators help you to better assess and compare the visibility of your research.
In addition, you can use the data when researching a wide range of questions, such as:
- Which journal is suitable for publication of my paper?
- How do I substantiate my scientific achievement?
- What are the thematic trends in my field?
- Who is doing research in my field, where can I find cooperation partners?
Databases with Bibliometric Data (Selection)
- Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)
- Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate Analytics)
- Essential Science Indicators (Clarivate Analytics)
- Scopus (Elsevier)
- Google Scholar (analysis tools: Scholarometer and Publish or Perish)
- eigenfactor.org (based on data from Web of Science)
- SCImago (based on data from Scopus)
- ZORA
- The values of the bibliometric indicators are not identical for the different providers due to the different data foundations.