Using co-authorship and citation analysis to identify research groups: a new way to assess performance

Considering that modern science is conducted primarily through a network of collaborators who organize themselves around key researchers, this research develops and tests a characterization and assessment method that recognizes the particular endogenous, or self-organizing characteristics of research groups. Instead of establishing an ad-hoc unit of analysis and assuming an unspecified network structure, the proposed method uses knowledge footprints, based on backward citations, to measure and compare the performance/productivity of research groups. The method is demonstrated by ranking research groups in Physics, Applied Physics/Condensed Matter/Materials Science and Optics in the leading institutions in Mexico, the results show that the understanding of the scientific performance of an institution changes with a more careful account for the unit of analysis used in the assessment. Moreover, evaluations at the group level provide more accurate assessments since they allow for appropriate comparisons within subfields of science. The proposed method could be used to better understand the self-organizing mechanisms of research groups and have better assessment of their performance.