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Exploring alternative metrics of scholarly performance in the social sciences and humanities in Taiwan

Author

Listed:
  • Kuang-hua Chen

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Muh-chyun Tang

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Chun-mei Wang

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Jieh Hsiang

    (National Taiwan University)

Abstract

Research output and impact metrics derived from commercial citation databases such as Web of Science and Scopus have become the de facto indicators of scholarly performance across different disciplines and regions. However, it has been pointed out that the existing metrics are largely inadequate to reflect scholars’ overall peer-mediated performance, especially in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) where publication channels are more diverse. In this paper alternative metrics exploring a variety of formal and informal communication channels were proposed, with the aim of better reflecting SSH scholarship. Data for a group of SSH scholars in Taiwan on these metrics were collected. Principal component analysis revealed four underlying dimensions represented by the 18 metrics. Multiple-regression analyses were then performed to examine how well each of these dimensions predicted the academic standing of the scholars, measured by the number of public grants awarded and prestigious research awards received. Differences in the significance of the predictors were found between the social sciences and humanities. The results suggest the need to consider disciplinary differences when evaluating scholarly performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuang-hua Chen & Muh-chyun Tang & Chun-mei Wang & Jieh Hsiang, 2015. "Exploring alternative metrics of scholarly performance in the social sciences and humanities in Taiwan," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 97-112, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:102:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1420-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1420-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Abdelghani Maddi & Aouatif De La Laurencie, 2018. "La dynamique des SHS françaises dans le Web of Science," CEPN Working Papers 2018-05, Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord.
    5. József Popp & Péter Balogh & Judit Oláh & Sebastian Kot & Mónika Harangi Rákos & Péter Lengyel, 2018. "Social Network Analysis of Scientific Articles Published by Food Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, February.
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    8. Ospina-Delgado, Julieth & Zorio-Grima, Ana, 2016. "Innovation at universities: A fuzzy-set approach for MOOC-intensiveness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1325-1328.
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    10. Abdelghani Maddi & Aouatif de La Laurencie, 2018. "La dynamique des SHS françaises dans le Web of Science : un manque de représentativité ou de visibilité internationale ?," Working Papers hal-01922266, HAL.
    11. Yang, Siluo & Zheng, Mengxue & Yu, Yonghao & Wolfram, Dietmar, 2021. "Are Altmetric.com scores effective for research impact evaluation in the social sciences and humanities?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
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