Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2011 | Research article
Visibility of medical informatics regarding bibliometric indices and databases
Published in: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making | Issue 1/2011
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Background
The quantitative study of the publication output (bibliometrics) deeply influences how scientific work is perceived (bibliometric visibility). Recently, new bibliometric indices and databases have been established, which may change the visibility of disciplines, institutions and individuals. This study examines the effects of the new indices on the visibility of Medical Informatics.
Methods
By objective criteria, three sets of journals are chosen, two representing Medical Informatics and a third addressing Internal Medicine as a benchmark. The availability of index data (index coverage) and the aggregate scores of these corpora are compared for journal-related (Journal impact factor, Eigenfactor metrics, SCImago journal rank) and author-related indices (Hirsch-index, Egghes G-index). Correlation analysis compares the dependence of author-related indices.
Results
The bibliometric visibility depended on the research focus and the citation database: Scopus covers more journals relevant for Medical Informatics than ISI/Thomson Reuters. Journals focused on Medical Informatics' methodology were negatively affected by the Eigenfactor metrics, while the visibility profited from an interdisciplinary research focus. The correlation between Hirsch-indices computed on citation databases and the Internet was strong.
Conclusions
The visibility of smaller technology-oriented disciplines like Medical Informatics is changed by the new bibliometric indices and databases possibly leading to suitably changed publication strategies. Freely accessible author-related indices enable an easy and adequate individual assessment.