Bibliometrics and source criticism

Bibliometrics aims to make research results measurable and comparable by means of quantitative analyses. High-quality publication and citation data is required to create meaningful analyses. Various bibliometric data sources such as Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), Scopus (Elsevier) and Dimensions (Digital Science) can be used for this purpose. Bibliometric analyses are only quantitative "approximations" to measure the quality of research or the quality of scientific output.

A distinction is made between author-related indicators, e.g. the h-index, which is determined using Zitationsanalysen and journal-related indicators, e.g. Impact factor. For a better assessment and interpretation of bibliometric data, you can find an introductory course in our Training programme.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics describes bibliometric indicators that serve as complementary indicators to the traditional bibliometric indicators (h-index, impact factor). The aim is not only to measure bibliographic data, but also to record communication in the scientific community. Data from social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, ResearchGate and content published on the internet (e.g. blogs, Wikipedia, etc.) as well as news reports are analysed.

In this way, the term "impact" is to be expanded: The respective measured values are added up and result in the "Altmetric Attention Score", the composition of which is visualised using the so-called "donut", a clear pie chart. If available, the attention score and donut are displayed in the detailed view of BibSearch.

Originally, the term "source criticism" comes from the historical sciences and means that every source must be scrutinised in order to determine the circumstances under which it was created.

Applied to the handling of academic literature, every source found must be checked to see whether it can be used and is therefore worthy of citation. The content is checked by your own specialist expertise, but even formal aspects can provide information on the reliability of the source.

In this formal evaluation, for example, we look at how up-to-date a source is, who is behind it and whether it has been cited stringently and completely. We can help you with the formal evaluation of scientific sources with our Course programme and our Materials for self-study.