Abstract

Visibility in the Web of Science databases differs between the hard sciences and the social sciences, and between scholarship in English and in other languages. Quantitative data for 2006 are offered for SCI, SSCI, and AHCI, along with the author’s observations. The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) has developed suggestions to reduce the marginalization of the social sciences and Spanish liberal arts in citations.

Abstract

 There is a greater need to evaluate the research, and yet it is increasingly more complex to do so. The main criticisms that the inadequate use of informetric indicators receive are exposed. Alternative ways to use them to measure the research performance in an informed and responsible way, exploiting its potential adequately, are suggested.