Abstract

Google scholar citations, a system aimed at researchers, attempts to outline researchers’ bibliometric profile, providing citation indicators and the h-index. We review other tools designed to measure visibility and academic impact on the web, such as Microsoft academic search and the new initiatives grouped under the label altmetrics or alternative indicators. Finally, we discuss how the appearance of Google scholar citations and other products may affect the two major sources of bibliometric data, ISI Web of science and Scopus, and how this can influence the evaluation of scientific research.

Abstract

No one disputes the need for science to be evaluated, but the evaluation is a source of continued controversy. The characteristics of major evaluations that have been carried out in the scientific research environment are presented in this article, including evaluations of articles under peer review, and evaluations of personal trajectories. The main problems and challenges along with possible solutions are discussed.

Abstract

This is a kind of conceptual document, and at the same time a reflection, but also something more, an act of provocation in the form of a piece of theater that shows a reality, something dramatic and comical at the same time, as is the panorama ofour research. It also includes a good portion of humor, but the kind of humor the great writer and thinker Luigi Pirandello defined as „the one that does not provoke the immediate laughter, but only pulls a smile behind which hides the bitter taste of the absurd or the unbearable lightness of our existence.“ This piece of theater, short and concise so as not to bore anyone, narrates the efforts that are required daily, as well as the situations created, to carry out the task –which is perhaps a utopia- of trying to measure something that is incommensurable, as is science on the part of those who are dedicated to its evaluation or to the study of its development. In this comedy, all actors involved, both protagonists and the indicators themselves, have the opportunity to present their hopes and fears, their merits and their complaints, their recommendations and warnings. They narrate the search for a path in a jungle in which the world of information has been converted, that is practicable, augurs a promising future for science, and allows us a more just interpretation.

Abstract

The current landscape on indicators is characterized by its great activity with new data sources emerging and new indicators being proposed. However, national evaluation processes in Spain and Latin America are characterized by the use of indicators and criteria defined by a conservative view of science becoming ever more updated and with a narrow vision of the scientific activity. In this text we reflect on this paradox and we put forward ideas on how we could work from the bibliometric community, both academic and professional, to connect these two worlds, new indicators and evaluation processes, that are so related and increasingly distant.