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

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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. Daniela De Filippo & Fernanda Morillo & Borja González-Albo, 2023. "Measuring the Impact and Influence of Scientific Activity in the Humanities and Social Sciences," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Banshal, Sumit Kumar & Gupta, Solanki & Lathabai, Hiran H & Singh, Vivek Kumar, 2022. "Power Laws in altmetrics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    6. 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.
    7. Thelwall, Mike & Nevill, Tamara, 2018. "Could scientists use Altmetric.com scores to predict longer term citation counts?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 237-248.
    8. Jámbor, Attila & Popp, József & Balogh, Péter & Kovács, Sándor, 2015. "Hálózatosodás az agrárgazdaságtanban. Szerzői és hivatkozási kapcsolatok a Kelet-Közép-Európáról szóló szakirodalomban [Cliques in agricultural economics: co-authorship and co-citation networks in ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 525-543.
    9. 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.
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    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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    13. 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.
    14. 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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