Role of citation and non-citation metrics in predicting the educational impact of textbooks

Abstract

PurposeThe main objective of the present study is to determine the role of citation-based metrics (PageRank and HITS’ authority and hub scores) and non-citation metrics (Goodreads readers, reviews and ratings, textbook edition counts) in predicting educational ranks of textbooks.Design/methodology/approachThe rankings of 1869 academic textbooks of various disciplines indexed in Scopus were extracted from the Open Syllabus Project (OSP) and compared with normalized counts of Scopus citations, scores of PageRank, authority and hub (HITS) in Scopus book-to-book citation network, Goodreads ratings and reviews, review sentiment scores and WorldCat book editions.FindingsPrediction of the educational rank of scholarly syllabus books ranged from 32% in technology to 68% in philosophy, psychology and religion. WorldCat editions in social sciences, medicine and technology, Goodreads ratings in humanities, and book-citation-network authority scores in law and political science accounted for the strongest predictions of the educational score. Thus, each indicator of editions, Goodreads ratings, and book citation authority score alone can be used to show the rank of the academic textbooks, and if used in combination, they will help explain the educational uptake of books even better.Originality/valueThis is the first study examining the role of citation indicators, Goodreads readers, reviews and ratings in predicting the OSP rank of academic books.