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Library services for researchers - Research impact

Author impact

Author impact looks across the entirety of your research outputs, to wholistically showcase your work. It is important to remember that not all databases will include all your work, so consider assessing author impact by utilising evidence from a range of sources.

It is important to remember:  

  • Maintaining author profiles helps to keep metrics as accurate as possible
  • Sources of metrics may be skewed to certain disciplines; the data is representative of the journals indexed in that database
  • Some publication types are not included in calculations of metrics, for example, abstracts or conference papers
  • Metric scores may differ depending on the database used, as each database has different inclusions
  • Keep your UOW Scholars profile up to date; this profile allows you to showcase a holistic representation of you as an academic.

Key measures of author impact include:

What is it?

Number of publications you have authored

Where to find it

How to use it

As evidence of productivity and quality of outputs. Example statements:

  • In the past 4 years I have published 9 peer reviewed journal articles in the field of Marine Biology (Web of Science, 2023)
  • In the past 2 years I have published 3 peer reviewed articles, all indexed in Scopus and Web of Science (2023).

Considerations

  • Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore your publication counts may vary significantly across databases.

What is it?

Number of times your publications have been cited.

Where to find it

How to use it

To demonstrate the engagement with your work through the number of times it has appeared in the reference list of other articles and books. Example statements:

  • My articles published from 2009 to 2023, in the Scopus subject area Chemistry, have been cited 43 times
  • My work published from 2018 to 2023 has been cited 45 times in Google Scholar.

Considerations

  • Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore your publication and citation counts may vary significantly across databases
  • Should not be used to compare papers of different age (publication year), document type or subject area/discipline
  • Should not be used as a direct measure of research quality.

What is it?

Number of citations per publication, calculated by dividing the total number of citations by the total number of papers indexed in a database.

Where to find it

  • SciVal - based on publications indexed in Scopus
  • InCites - based on publications indexed in Web of Science (called citation impact)

How to use it

To assess the average impact and engagement of your publications. Example statements:

  • An analysis of my publications (1996-2023) shows that I have 35 publications indexed in Scopus. The average number of citations for these outputs is 15.6 (Scival, 2023).

Considerations

  • Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore your publication and citation counts may vary significantly across databases
  • If you are using a specific database, ensure your publications from indexed journals have been assigned to your author profile, if a well-cited publication has been misallocated, this will have an impact on your average
  • Citations accrue at different rates across different disciplines
  • Author self-citation, while an essential part of scholarly communication, impacts citation counts.

What is it?

An analysis of the articles citing your work, demonstrates geographic location of citation and the subject area influence of your publications.

Where to find it

How to use it

To provide context to the audience of your work through infographics analysing the citing articles. Example statements:

  • My research has a broad reach and audience, demonstrated by citing authors across 13 countries, and a broad range of subject areas, including medicine, engineering, environmental science, and economics (Scopus, 2023).

Considerations

  • Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore the included publications and citations may vary significantly across databases
  • The database will determine the subject areas your work is assigned to.

What is it?

An indicator of impact normalised for subject area, year of publication (age), and document type. This metric accounts for differences in publication and citation behaviour between disciplines. SciVal has the Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI), which is based on publications indexed in Scopus. InCites has the Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI), which is based on publications indexed in Web of Science.

Where to find it

How to use it

To show how the citations received by your publications compare with the average for similar publications. A FWCI (SciVal) or CNCI (InCites) of 1.00 indicates that your publications have been cited as expected based on the average for similar publications. More than 1.00 indicates more cited than expected, less than 1.00 indicates less cited than expected. Example statements:

  • My papers from the last 5 years have an FWCI of 1.47, indicating they have been cited 47% more than expected (SciVal, 2023)
  • My papers from 2019 to 2023 have an CNCI of 1.13, indicating they have been cited 1.13 times more than expected (InCites, 2023).

Considerations

  • This metric was initially conceived for large research groups, institution or country level. In small publication sets, the FWCI or CNCI values may be inflated by a single highly cited paper
  • FWCI and CNCI may be affected by the subject classification system used by the data source. Articles are assigned subject areas by the database.

What is it?

A representation of the number of your papers and the number of citations those papers have received. An h-index of 8 means that an author has 8 publications that have been cited at least 8 times.

Where to find it

How to use it

As evidence of the scholarly influence of your body of work. This metric should always be used in conjunction with other metrics. Example statements:

  • I have published 5 research articles, and my h-index is 3 (Web of Science, 2023) and these 5 articles have been cited 19 times
  • I have a h-index of 6 from the 13 publications that are indexed in Scopus, and a FWCI of 1.2, making my work more cited than expected (Scopus and SciVal, 2023).

Considerations

  • Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore your h-index may vary significantly across databases
  • The h-index should not be used to compare researchers because of differences in publishing and citation practices across disciplines, and it does not take into account career stage or interruptions
  • As this measure does not take into account the longevity of a researcher's career, it benefits more experienced researchers over early-career researchers.

What is it?

An indicator of the number of publications you have co-authored through collaboration with international, national or institutional partners.

 

Where to find it

  • Dimensions - sign in or create a free account, navigate to your Researcher profile > Analytical Views to see a data visualisation of your co-authorship network from publications indexed in Dimensions, this video (1:49) takes you through the steps
  • Elements - navigate to view or edit your profile for a UOW co-author collaboration map from claimed publications
  • Scopus - using an Author search, collaboration metrics and can be found in Analyze Author Output
  • Web of Science - using a Researchers search, collaboration metrics can be found on the author profile page
  • UOW Scholars - navigate to your profile and view your UOW and external collaboration networks on the sidebar (available to UOW academic staff).

How to use it

To demonstrate the extent of your collaboration with academic or industry-based partners. You may consider using this metric in conjunction with other metrics to demonstrate impact. A screenshot of co-authorship networks from Dimensions, or publishing networks from UOW Scholars could be a valuable addition to a CV to demonstrate the reach of your academic and industry collaborations.

 

  • 72.3% of my publications, from 2013-2023, were co-authored by at least one author with an international affiliation. The average number of citations received by these publications was 22.8 (Scopus and SciVal, 2023).

Considerations

  • The typical collaborative behaviour of academics will differ between disciplines.

What is it?

An indicator of the number of citations your publications have received from patents.

 

Where to find it

  • Lens
  • SciVal - based on publications indexed in Scopus
  • InCites - based on publications indexed in Web of Science

How to use it

To provide information about the economic impact of your research and to demonstrate how your research has influenced the creation of products. Example statements:

 

  • Three of my publications have been cited by 7 patents, demonstrating the economic impact of my research (Lens, 2023)
  • The economic impact of my research is demonstrated by the patent citation on this article (SciVal, 2023)
  • The impact of this collaboration with industry partners is demonstrated by the 2 patent citations over the course of this research (InCites, 2023).

Considerations

  • The typical patent citation behaviour of academics will differ between disciplines.
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