Documentation, Informaiton & Knowledge ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (6): 47-59.doi: 10.13366/j.dik.2021.06.047

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Citation-based Quantitative Evaluations on Scientific Publications: A Literature Review on Citation based Impact Indicators

  

  • Online:2021-11-10 Published:2022-01-13

Abstract: [Purpose/Significance]Citation-based quantitative evaluations on scientific publications are significant research contents in the fields of library and information science as well as scientific research management. Previous studies have proposed many citation-based impact indicators, but there is no clear illustration of their backgrounds, appllicable scope, advantages and limitations. So it is necessary to review the existing citation-based impact indicators both in China and abroad.[Design/Methodology]Through literature research method, this paper explained the theoretical and practical foundations of  citation-based impact indicators. Then it made comments on the existing citation-based impact indicators from three aspects, which are basic citation-based impact indicators, count-based indicators, and network-based indicators.[Findings/Conclusion]There are a lot of theoretical and practical foundations for existing indicators, which are either count-based or network-based. Network-based indicators are evolving into the innovative direction of scientific literature measurement. However, there are several problems existing in current studies, including lack of indicator evaluation, neglect of computational complexity and data accessibility, and limitations of the used datasets.[Originality/Value]Future citation-based quantitative evaluations on scientific publications need improvement in accuracy, computability, and interpretability of indicators.

Keywords: Academic impact, Citations, Bibliometrics, Scientometrics, Scientific research evaluation, Review