Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May 25;3(84):84cm13.
doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3002249.

Quality versus quantity: assessing individual research performance

José-Alain Sahel  1
Affiliations

Quality versus quantity: assessing individual research performance

José-Alain Sahel. Sci Transl Med. .

Abstract

Evaluating individual research performance is a complex task that ideally examines productivity, scientific impact, and research quality--a task that metrics alone have been unable to achieve. In January 2011, the French Academy of Sciences published a report on current bibliometric (citation metric) methods for evaluating individual researchers, as well as recommendations for the integration of quality assessment. Here, I draw on key issues raised by this report and comment on the suggestions for improving existing research evaluation practices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Can individual research performance be summarized by numbers? CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY OF D. FRANGOV (FRANGOV DIMITAR PLAMENOV COMPANY)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cicero MT. In: De Officiis. Loeb Edition. Miller Walter., translator. II. Harvard University Press; Cambridge: 1913. p. xxii.p. 79.
    1. L’[Académie des sciences de l’Institut de France, Du bon usage de la bibliométrie pour l’évaluation individuelle des chercheurs. 2011. available at http://www.sauvonsluniversite.com/spip.php?article4391.
    1. Garfield E. Citation indexes for science: A new dimension in documentation through association of ideas. Science. 1955;122:108–111. doi: 10.1126/science.122.3159.108. - DOI - PubMed
    1. L’Académie des sciences de l’Institut de France, Évaluation des chercheurs et des enseignants-chercheurs en sciences exactes et expérimentales: Les propositions de l’Académie des sciences. 2009. available at: http://www.academiesciences.fr/actualites/textes/recherche_08_07_09.pdf.
    1. The Thomson Reuters Impact Factor. available at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/free/essays/impact_f...