The relationship between the research activity of Iranian medical universities and their web impact factor

Pages1026-1043
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/02640470911004101
Date13 November 2009
Published date13 November 2009
AuthorMaryam Asadi,Maryam Shekofteh
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
The relationship between the
research activity of Iranian
medical universities and their
web impact factor
Maryam Asadi
Central Library, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, and
Maryam Shekofteh
Paramedical Faculty,
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science & Human Services, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between research in Iranian medical
universities, together with their Web Impact Factor (WIF).
Design/methodology/approach The Altavista search engine was chosen because of its
advanced search facilities for counting links and having a wider scope of academic web sites than
other search engines. It was searched for determining the number of pages, in-links and self-links of 42
web sites of Iranian medical universities. The Web Impact Factor (WIF) was calculated by two
formulas and the relationship between the two grades of universities (WIF and ISI) was calculated by
using the Spearman’s correlation coefficient.
Findings – Tehran, Iran and Gilan medical universities had the first to third grade in the number of
web sites’ pages. The number of in-links to Tehran, Isfahan and Tabriz medical universities was more
than the others. The WIF of universities’ web sites was counted in four groups with regard to their
number of web pages and Kerman, Kermanshah, Fasa and Qom had the highest grades of WIF in each
group, but there was no meaningful relationship between WIF grades and ISI grades. Also, the WIF of
university web sites was counted with regard to the number of their members in the four groups and
the result shows that Hormozgan, Shiraz, Isfahan and Tehran had the highest grade in each group.
Again, there was no meaningful relation between WIF grades and ISI grades.
Research limitations/implications It seems that counting the number of in-links is a better scale
for ranking university web sites than WIF. WIF is proposed only in situations where the number of
web pages is about equal.
Originality/value – The paper provides rankings, for the first time, of Iranian medical university
web sites with regard to WIF based on the number of the web pages as well as on the number of the
academic staff. The research shows a methodology that others can follow.
Keywords Research, Medicalschools, Worldwide web, Students, Iran
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
At present, the World Wide Web is one of the main information sources on scientific
and research activities. It is, therefore, a suitable environment for webmetric studies.
According to Kousha, the target of all webmetrics studies is to validate web links as
the new information resources and to evaluate their impacts on formal and informal
relationships. Consequently, some researchers consider the similarities between
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
27,6
1026
Received 3 August 2008
Revised 20 September 2008
Accepted 9 October 2008
The Electronic Library
Vol. 27 No. 6, 2009
pp. 1026-1043
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640470911004101
citations and web-links. For instance, Rousseau (1997) uses the term “Sitation” to refer
to a used site. Ingwersen (1998) proposed “Web impact factor” (WIF) by analogy with
Journal impact factor (JIF), Borgman and Furner (2002) discussed the similarities
between “linking and citing”; Vaughan and Shaw (in press) suggested web citations
counts can potentially be “the appendix or alternative ISI citation counts and as a
module for impact factor” (Kousha, 2005).
University web sites in Iran, as in other countries, are multi-purpose tools and are
increasingly used for various aims like introducing universities, faculties, educational
groups, academic staff, as well as student admission, introducing educational
programs, offering access to databases and OPACs, and representation of research
findings, and accessing other web sites. However, it is not really known how the web
sites are ranked, linked and referred to.
The Web Impact Factor (WIF) provides quantitative tools for ranking, evaluating,
categorizing, and comparing web sites, top-level domains and sub-domains. There are
three types of link. Outgoing links from web pages are here named outlinks, links
coming into a site from other sites are named inlinks (or backlinks), and links within
the same site (from one page to another page) are called self-links. A high number of
self-links on a site is a mark of its correct link of information and resources and search
engines can provide better representations of sites through such self-links. The number
of pages in a web site is a sign of its quantity (not necessarily its quality). Moreover, the
more in-links, the more valid and important a site will be, and the better also its
visibility will be. The quantity of in-links in a web site thus determines its validity,
importance, quality, visibility, and rank; it also shows that the information on the site
is considered desired by the user (Osareh, 2007).
The WIF is a form of measurement used to determine the relative standing of web
sites in particular fields, or a country; for instance, academic web sites in a country.
The higher the impact factor, the higher the perceived reputation of that web site. The
WIF answers the question “what impact has this web site had in a given context
which could be local or global?” A WIF is a measure of the frequency with which the
“average web page” in a web site has been linked at a given point in time. In general, a
web site with a higher impact factor may be considered to be more prestigious or of a
higher quality than those web sites with a lower impact factor. The WIF gives a
measure of average (external or absolute) impact per page, which could be for a single
university web site or all web sites in an entire country, for example. This has a close
analogy with impact factors for journals, as, indeed, link analysis has with citation
analysis generally (Noruzi, 2006, pp. 491-492).
According to Noruzi (2005, p. 4), the idea of WIF was first initiated by Gairin (1997).
A year later, Ingwersen discussed the matter in an English language journal, and
therefore, provided the grounds for expanding the idea even further. Web link analysis
is an interesting outlook to evaluate universities, though it is not the tool to conduct a
complete evaluation. Due to the nature of web dynamics, the search engine deficiencies
(the data collection tools in such searches), lack of enough recognition of the
motivations and causes of web link establishments, the presence of some other factors
(except the links) in web evaluations, studies and results in web site rankings have to
followed with caution.
The calculation of the web impact factor (WIF) is also suggested as a tool for
evaluating and identifying the level of university web site impacts; this calculation is a
Iranian medical
universities
1027

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