Measuring the institution's footprint in the web
| Date | 20 November 2009 |
| Pages | 540-556 |
| Published date | 20 November 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/073788309 |
| Author | Isidro Aguillo |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Measuring the institution’s
footprint in the web
Isidro Aguillo
Cybermetrics Lab, Centre of Social Sciences and Humanities (CCHS),
Madrid, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative, although complementary, system
for the evaluation of the scholarly activities of academic organizations, scholars and researchers, based
on web indicators, in order to speed up the change of paradigm in scholarly communication towards a
new fully electronic twenty-first century model.
Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve these goals, a new set of web indicators has
been introduced, obtainedmainly from datagathered from searchengines, the new mediatorsof scholarly
communication.
Findings – It was found that three large groups of indicators are feasible to obtain and relevant for
evaluation purposes: activity (web publication); impact (visibility) and usage (visits and visitors). As a
proof of concept, a Ranking Web of Universities has been built with Webometrics data. There are two
relevantfindings: ranking results are similarto those obtained by otherbibliometric-basedrankings; and
there is a concerning digitaldivide between NorthAmerican and Europeanuniversities, whichappear in
lower positions when compared with their USA and Canada counterparts.
Research limitations/implications – Cybermetrics is still an emerging discipline, so new
developments should be expected when more empirical data become available.
Practical implications – The proposed approach suggests the publication of truly electronic
journals, rather than digital versions of printed articles. Additional materials, such as raw data and
multimedia files, should be included along with other relevant information arising from more informal
activities. These repositories should be Open Access, available as part of the public web, indexed by
the main commercial search engines. It is expected that these actions could generate larger web-based
audiences, reduce the costs of publication and access and allow third parties to take advantage of the
knowledge generated, without sacrificing peer review, which should be extended (pre- and post-) and
expanded (closed and open).
Originality/value – A full taxonomy of web indicators is introduced for describing and evaluating
research activities,academic organizations andindividual scholars and scientists.Previous attempts for
building such classification were incomplete and did not take into account feasibility and efficiency.
Keywords Academic staff, Wo rldwide web, Search engines
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The electronic publication of scientific papers has greatly increased the global audience
for research activities (Evans, 2008) and also academic productivity (Barjak, 2006;
Vakkari, 2008). Open access initiatives also have a great impact, and in the coming
years will change scholarly communication. But most of these efforts are based on the
old model of paper based journals with peer-review of the formal and almost-final
version of the research results. There are several shortcomings linked to the traditional
editorial process which can be overcome in the electronic (web) arena, but these have
not yet been confronted.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
LHT
27,4
540
Received 10 May 2009
Revised 3 July 2009
Accepted 24 July 2009
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 27 No. 4, 2009
pp. 540-556
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/073788309
Limitations of paper editions are clearly linked to their production and distribution
costs. This means that only final results are published, in an economic format (short,
not detailed, one language, without color photographs). A wide range of scholarly
activities, including informal ones, are excluded, in particular the whole process
leading to the results and access to the raw data used. As is shown by the current
evolution in academic journals, a modern view should provide an extension of peer
review (selected referees combined with open review (Beel and Gipp, 2008) and
improved access to additional material, including new media (Van de Sompel, et al.,
2004). However the journal-centered model is no longer valid and current evaluation
needs suggest focusing more on the user (see Figure 1).
The web indicators are designed not only to monitor the presence and impact of an
individual or an organization in webspace but to promote a more open, global, societal,
and detailed knowledge of the scholars’ organization, activities and results (Barjak
et al., 2007; Kousha and Thelwall, 2007). The proposal is to measure the Personal or
Institutional Page 2.0 of an academic or research unit, including indicators of activity
(number of webpages, documents or papers), impact (invocation, link visibility, page
rank, “sitation” analysis) or usage (popularity, traffic).
2. Justification
There are several reasons for changing the way scholarly activities and research
results are communicated.
The “serials crisis” (Swan, 2007) has shown that scholars have lost control of the
system, which is in the hands of commercial publishers. Researchers freely give away
their papers to publishers, who sell them back again to libraries, meaning that funders
pay twice.
Most of the informal networks are far from democratic: Peer review processes are
secretive and probably biased (Smith, 2006; Bornmann et al., 2008), but it is extremely
Figure 1.
Proposal for a new model
for scholarly
communication, covering
more activities, and
proposing a central role
for the web search engine
Institution’s
footprint in the
web
541
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