A Bibliometric Evaluation of the Research Outputs of Italian Economists

Abstract

Citation indexes have attracted substantial interest from both scholars and policy-makers in recentyears. This paper illustrates the potential and limitations of the use of bibliometric indicators to assessthe scientific productivity of research units (e.g., a single researcher or department). The main citationindexes are computed for a representative sample of 1327 Italian academic economists (secs p/01, p/02,p/03). Our analysis highlights the limited sensitivity of bibliometric rankings with respect to the citationindexes (h, g, g*, f, t, Fmax) and, vice versa, a greater sensitivity with respect to the database (Scopus, WoS,EconLit, Google Scholar). Finally, our estimates reveal that faculty position, Scientific Disciplinary Sector(SSD), geographic location, and, in some regressions, the size of the university, explain approximately20% of the variance in scholars' bibliometric performance.