Abstract
By individually associating articles to basic or applied research, it is shown that basic articles are cited more frequently than applied ones. Dividing the subject categories of the Web of Science into a basic and an applied part, the mean field-normalization rate is referred to the applied or basic part depending on the research orientation of the paper analysed. By this approach, a distinct difference of the citations for the applied and basic parts of most subject categories is found. However, differences of the citation scores of applied and basic research organisations are found as well, but are less clear. The explanation is that applied and basic research organisations generally publish a mix of basic and applied articles. In consequence, the standard normalization without distinction of basic and applied papers is generally sufficient for the bibliometric assessment of research organisations.
Highlights
Bibliometrics is the quantitative analysis of scientific publications
Citations are used as a proxy for research quality of research institutions, e.g., in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the United Kingdom
We looked at nine Web of Science (WoS) subject categories and selected the three medical categories studied by Van Eck et al (2013), and six categories in which the German research organisations Fraunhofer and Max-Planck, which are analysed in more detail below, have substantial numbers of publications
Summary
Bibliometrics is the quantitative analysis of scientific publications. In addition to simple publication numbers, it uses citations as a measure of impact. We explore in more detail whether the distinction between basic and applied research has a relevant impact on citation scores, in particular with regard to the analysis of research institutions. In "Physical chemistry" and "Surgery", the citation scores for applied articles are higher than for basic ones.
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