Abstract
BackgroundThe quantitative study of the publication output (bibliometrics) deeply influences how scientific work is perceived (bibliometric visibility). Recently, new bibliometric indices and databases have been established, which may change the visibility of disciplines, institutions and individuals. This study examines the effects of the new indices on the visibility of Medical Informatics.MethodsBy objective criteria, three sets of journals are chosen, two representing Medical Informatics and a third addressing Internal Medicine as a benchmark. The availability of index data (index coverage) and the aggregate scores of these corpora are compared for journal-related (Journal impact factor, Eigenfactor metrics, SCImago journal rank) and author-related indices (Hirsch-index, Egghes G-index). Correlation analysis compares the dependence of author-related indices.ResultsThe bibliometric visibility depended on the research focus and the citation database: Scopus covers more journals relevant for Medical Informatics than ISI/Thomson Reuters. Journals focused on Medical Informatics' methodology were negatively affected by the Eigenfactor metrics, while the visibility profited from an interdisciplinary research focus. The correlation between Hirsch-indices computed on citation databases and the Internet was strong.ConclusionsThe visibility of smaller technology-oriented disciplines like Medical Informatics is changed by the new bibliometric indices and databases possibly leading to suitably changed publication strategies. Freely accessible author-related indices enable an easy and adequate individual assessment.
Highlights
The quantitative study of the publication output deeply influences how scientific work is perceived
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the new bibliometric approaches may change the relative bibliometric visibility of Medical Informatics (MI) research compared to a high-impact benchmark, and determine the strength of this effect
Three journals belong to both MI-related corpora (Int J Med Inform, J Am Med Inform Assoc, Methods Inf Med), one journal belongs to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)-MI and the MeSH-Med Corpus (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys)
Summary
The quantitative study of the publication output (bibliometrics) deeply influences how scientific work is perceived (bibliometric visibility). Bibliometric indices quantify the scientific impact of journals, research institutions, or scientists by a statistical analysis of the publication effort - mainly by analysing citations [2,3]. The misuse of bibliometrics which triggered criticism for a long time - has become a Bibliometrics can be applied to explore research trends and the conceptual structure of research fields. This has been done for Medical Informatics (MI) with some remarkable results: A pioneering intercitation analysis yielded that MI has a special core literature structured by major focus areas [9]. A recent study shows that new distinct subfields have emerged in the last years representing the growing influence of the Internet and of organisational and user driven perspectives [12]
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