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Where do Italian universities stand? An in-depth statistical analysis of national and international rankings

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Geraci

    (UCL Institute of Child Health)

  • M. Degli Esposti

    (The University of Manchester, Michael Smith building)

Abstract

In a previous article (Degli Esposti and Geraci. Bulletin of Italian Politics, 2011), we presented an historical survey of the university reform laws that took place in Italy in the last 30 years. On that occasion, we stressed how important is merit evaluation for academics and their institutions, especially in view of the much debated but not yet implemented ‘Gelmini’ reform with its long awaited new regulation for accessing academic positions (concorsi) and for determining individual weight in financial resource allocation among universities. Here, we present and compare several rankings used to evaluate the prestige and merit of Italian universities. We also consider alternative approaches to academic rankings that highlight peculiar aspects of the universities in Italy which cannot be reasonably accounted for by other international rankings. Finally, we propose a new approach that combines both national and international standing of Italian universities. It is hoped that this study will provide practical guidance to policy makers for establishing the criteria upon which merit should be assessed.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Geraci & M. Degli Esposti, 2011. "Where do Italian universities stand? An in-depth statistical analysis of national and international rankings," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 667-681, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:87:y:2011:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0350-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0350-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thierry Marchant, 2009. "An axiomatic characterization of the ranking based on the h-index and some other bibliometric rankings of authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 325-342, August.
    2. Themis Lazaridis, 2010. "Ranking university departments using the mean h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 211-216, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfio Ferrara & Silvia Salini, 2012. "Ten challenges in modeling bibliographic data for bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 765-785, December.
    2. Mario Nicoliello, 2023. "Some Notes about Academic Evaluation: New Challenges for Accounting Scholars in Italy," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(11), pages 1-51, February.
    3. Francesca DE BATTISTI & Silvia SALINI, 2011. "Robust analysis of bibliometric data," Departmental Working Papers 2011-36, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    4. M. Benito & R. Romera, 2011. "Improving quality assessment of composite indicators in university rankings: a case study of French and German universities of excellence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(1), pages 153-176, October.
    5. Aparna Basu & Sumit Kumar Banshal & Khushboo Singhal & Vivek Kumar Singh, 2016. "Designing a Composite Index for research performance evaluation at the national or regional level: ranking Central Universities in India," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1171-1193, June.

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