In defence of 'early career universities'

Linda Butler*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    Abstract

    The expansion of access to tertiary education resulted in the creation of many new universities in the 1970s and 1980s. As a parallel to use of the term 'early career researchers', these institutions can be labelled 'early career universities' (ECU). With the move in many countries to a greater use of metrics in the assessment of research, the implications for ECUs must be recognised. Data from a comprehensive study of Australian publication output, alongside a detailed analysis of one ECU, provide important insights into the issues that might arise. It reveals that ECUs can be characterised by a rapid increase in publication output, and a reliance on non-ISI journal outlets. Both trends diminish the usefulness of common bibliometric measures and evaluators must be sensitive to this. Where multi-year citation windows are used, the deflating effects on citation rates publication output biased towards the most recent years needs to be recognised and catered for. In addition, it is clear that ISI coverage of ECU output is much lower than for established universities.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of ISSI 2005
    Subtitle of host publication10th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics
    Pages290-294
    Number of pages5
    Publication statusPublished - 2005
    Event10th Biennial International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2005 - Stockholm, Sweden
    Duration: 24 Jul 200528 Jul 2005

    Publication series

    NameProceedings of ISSI 2005: 10th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics
    Volume1

    Conference

    Conference10th Biennial International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2005
    Country/TerritorySweden
    CityStockholm
    Period24/07/0528/07/05

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