Harvard no longer number 1 in ranking

by Paul Wouters 24 Oct 2011

Recently, the new Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012 saw the light. The ranking revealed that Harvard University is no longer number one on the list. Incidentally, the differences with Caltech – now highest – are min…

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Perspectives on computer simulation and data visualization

by Sarah de Rijcke 21 Oct 2011

When it comes to critical analysis of the role of computers, data visualization, simulations and modeling in the sciences, much can be learned from humanities scholars. I’m currently teaching a course on the role of computer-generated images in conte…

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Understanding Academic Careers

by Sarah de Rijcke 10 Oct 2011

On November 16, 2011, the Rathenau Institute and the VU University Amsterdam organize a symposium on Dynamics of Academic Leadership. The symposium addresses the conditions that are necessary for high levelperformance and creativity in research, and th…

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Science mapping: do we know what we visualize?

by Sarah de Rijcke 3 Oct 2011

A recent landmark in the field of science mapping is Katy Börner’s Atlas of Science: Visualizing What We Know (MIT Press, 2010). The atlas recently won the ASIS&T Best Information Science Book Award 2011.The kinds of maps covered by the atlas ra…

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Still using the Hirsch index? Don’t!

by Paul Wouters 26 Sep 2011

“My research: > 185 papers, h-index 40.” A random quote from a curriculum vitae in the World Wide Web. Sometimes, researchers love their Hirsch index, better known as the h-index. But what does the measure actually mean? Is it a reliable indica…

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Not much news in new Shanghai rankings

by Paul Wouters 14 Sep 2011

Two weeks before the start of the 2011 academic season, the latest issue of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was published. The response to this ranking in the Netherlands is telling about the importance ascribed to global university r…

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prezi: measuring social media impact

by Clifford Tatum 24 Aug 2011

Listen, Repeat, Learn: How to use Social Media Conversations to Measure and Demonstrate Impact and Improve Engagement on Prezi

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Do Facebook and Twitter play a role in impact factors?

by Clifford Tatum 23 Aug 2011

Bradley Voytek, a neuroscientist at UC Berkeley, conducted an experiment and concludes the following: Well, it seems like having a social media presence is probably a reflection of the journal’s popularity in general, but that, on average, the journals that do the most social media engagement (amongst the top-tier journals!) show the lowest impact factors. [...]

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Chronicle: The Futility of Ranking Academic Journals

by Clifford Tatum 19 Aug 2011

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 August 2011 by Ellen Hazelkorn, author of Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence Hazelkorn poses this question: While academe has questioned the trend away from curiosity driven and towards application-focused research, there is a responsibility on publicly-financed research(ers). Yet, this [...]

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New Masters Thesis: A Portfolio of indicators [...]

by Clifford Tatum 3 Jul 2011

Last week Birger Larsen’ MSc student, Danielle Chiosso Liu, defended her thesis entitled ‘A Portfolio of indicators: Broadening the scope of bibliometric research evaluation of the humanities – a mixed methods exploration.’ The thesis work was begun last year and inspired by the initial ACUMEN project proposal. Abstract Funding allocation schemes are increasingly incorporating bibliometric [...]

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