Data analytics and research evaluation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-11-2018-0073 |
| Published date | 03 June 2019 |
| Date | 03 June 2019 |
| Pages | 1-6 |
| Author | Lulu Qiu,Elsie Zhou,Tiffany Yu,Neil Smyth |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Library & information services |
Data analytics and research evaluation
Lulu Qiu, Elsie Zhou, Tiffany Yu and Neil Smyth
Introduction
Technology transformations in
research evaluation metrics data are
challenging librarians to re-position
themselves in the evolving cycles of
research production, communication and
evaluation. One traditional focus of
library reference and information services
has been scholarly communication. The
established traditions range through
complex inquiries related to content and
discovery; open access to publications
and data; research data management;
and bibliometrics. Cycles of research
production have become a feature of
some libraries under digital humanities
and digital scholarship portfolios.
Research evaluation is becoming ever
more important for universities, but it is
not always part of library services.
This paper focuses on a new reference
and information service in China for
research data analytics that was launched
in 2017. There is a discussion of how new
university needs have provided the
strategic drive for librarians, including the
emergence of bibliometric based services,
and the possible future impact of new
and emerging technologies. Evolving
reference and information services are
described: scaffolding basic bibliometrics;
research skills teaching and clinics; and
research analytics. The skills assessed
include data extraction, data analysis and
data visualisation, building on traditional
librarian strengths and expertise. This
paper ends by highlighting challenges:
complexity and change; disciplinary
cultures; and positioning.
Technology transformations
Technology transformations challenge
librarians to reassess three areas for
reference and information service
development: strategic alignment with
universities; bibliometric based services;
and possible impacts of new innovations,
notably predictive analytics. Librarians
are challenged by new and emerging
strategic needs of universities for data-
driven research intelligence that provides
a comparative edge in the global world of
higher education. Universities need
research data to analyse the performance
at multiple levels, including the
individual researcher, establishing clear
expectations for career progression and
promotion; research groups and clusters,
collating researchers together to identify
and communicate outstanding areas of
research excellence; and, at the
institutional level, to make national and
international comparisons against other
leading institutions with distinctive
research intensive profiles.
Universities need to know and apply
international assessment standards; they
need library leadership to develop new
reference and information services based
on research evaluation data analytics
which are strategic, identifying current
patterns and indicating pathways towards
future success. University libraries
provide a wide range of research
evaluation, research impact and
bibliometrics based services. Since 2007,
the University of New South Wales
has delivered the Research Impact
Measurement Service (Drummond,
2014). In New Zealand, Victoria
University of Wellington Library has
repositioned to deliver a research impact
and metric services, collaborating with
the planning team, the Vice-Provost
Research, including detailed reports with
analysis and one-to-one research
consultations (Lang et al., 2018).
Leading Chinese universities provide
research evaluation services (Wang,
2016). Peking University Library, for
example, used bibliometric analysis to
produce disciplinary competiveness
reports (Peking University Library,
2018). The University of Wuhan library
service has developed since 1998 to
include bibliometrics consultations,
research outputs analysis and
departmental/institutional research
competitiveness analysis (Liu and Liu,
2015). Shanghai Jiaotong University
Library works with the Human
Resources Office to provide research
evaluation metrics on individual
academic performance (Yang, 2014).
The Information Service of Zhejiang
University Library provides a patent
evaluation service and strategy
consultation based on bibliometrics
(Information Service of Zhejiang
UniversityLibrary, 2018).
The Library’s Research Outputs and
Impact team at the University of
Queensland have used bibliometric data
to produce research intelligence reports
(Elsevier and The University of
Queensland Australia, 2016), and this
has been identified as a best practice for
our service development. However, “it
can no longer be taken for granted that
services traditionally provided by the
library will necessarily continue to be in
the library’s oversite. Many services
currently offered by libraries could be
provided by other parties, and there is
some evidence around the sector that
they sometimes are” (Pinfield et al.,
2017). Bibliometrics, for example,
could be a role for the library or other
professional services departments at the
university, notably the research office or
strategy and planning (Gadd, 2017).
Predictive analytics have been
highlighted as relevant to the higher
education sector in 2018 Gartner (2018).
The recent Association of College &
Research Libraries Environmental Scan
from the American Library Association
included implications of research
evaluation and metrics and challenged
librarians to collaborate with institutional
leaders to support the use of citation and
altmetrics (Association of College &
Research Libraries Research, 2017). One
key technologies trend is BYOD: libraries
are moving from “bring your own
device” to “bring your own data”, with
libraries partnering with researchers to
analyse and visualise data for high quality
publications. Libraries increasingly have
spaces with unique and distinctive
technologies that go beyond the
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 4 2019, pp. 1-6, V
CEmerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-11-2018-0073 1
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