Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond? / Zuccala, Alesia Ann; Polonen, Janne; Guns, Raf; Roeggen, Vidar ; Kulczycki, Emanuel; Bruun, Kasper; Savolainen, Eeva.

In: Quantitative Science Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2021, p. 588–615.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Zuccala, AA, Polonen, J, Guns, R, Roeggen, V, Kulczycki, E, Bruun, K & Savolainen, E 2021, 'Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond?', Quantitative Science Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 588–615. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00134

APA

Zuccala, A. A., Polonen, J., Guns, R., Roeggen, V., Kulczycki, E., Bruun, K., & Savolainen, E. (2021). Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond? Quantitative Science Studies, 2(2), 588–615. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00134

Vancouver

Zuccala AA, Polonen J, Guns R, Roeggen V, Kulczycki E, Bruun K et al. Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond? Quantitative Science Studies. 2021;2(2):588–615. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00134

Author

Zuccala, Alesia Ann ; Polonen, Janne ; Guns, Raf ; Roeggen, Vidar ; Kulczycki, Emanuel ; Bruun, Kasper ; Savolainen, Eeva. / Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond?. In: Quantitative Science Studies. 2021 ; Vol. 2, No. 2. pp. 588–615.

Bibtex

@article{7c9fdf078c3d4bcd880524b3594cf708,
title = "Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond?",
abstract = "This study compares publisher ratings to the visibility and impact of individual books, based on a 2017 dataset from three Nordic PRFS systems (Denmark, Norway, and Finland). Although there are Journal Impact Factors (JIFs) for journals, there is no similar indicator for book publishers. National publisher lists are used instead to account for the general 'quality' of books, leading to institutional rewards. But, just as the JIF is not recommended as proxy for the {\textquoteleft}citedness{\textquoteright} of a paper, a publisher rating is also not recommended as proxy for the impact of an individual book. We introduce a small fish in a big pond versus big fish in a small pond metaphor, where a {\textquoteleft}fish{\textquoteright} is a book and {\textquoteleft}the pond{\textquoteright} represents its publishing house. We investigate how books fit on this metaphorical fish and pond continuum, using WorldCat holdings (visibility) and Google scholar citations (impact), and test other variables to determine their predictive value with respect to these two indicators. Our statistics show that publisher levels do not have predictive value, when other variables are held constant. This has implications for PRFSs and book evaluations in general, as well as ongoing developments related to a newly proposed international publisher registry.",
keywords = "Faculty of Humanities, Book Evaluations; Book Publishing; Performance-Based Research Evaluation Systems (PRFS); Performance-based funding",
author = "Zuccala, {Alesia Ann} and Janne Polonen and Raf Guns and Vidar Roeggen and Emanuel Kulczycki and Kasper Bruun and Eeva Savolainen",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1162/qss_a_00134",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
pages = "588–615",
journal = "Quantitative Science Studies",
issn = "2641-3337",
publisher = "MIT Press",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Performance-based publisher ratings and the visibility/impact of books: Small fish in a big pond, or big fish in a small pond?

AU - Zuccala, Alesia Ann

AU - Polonen, Janne

AU - Guns, Raf

AU - Roeggen, Vidar

AU - Kulczycki, Emanuel

AU - Bruun, Kasper

AU - Savolainen, Eeva

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - This study compares publisher ratings to the visibility and impact of individual books, based on a 2017 dataset from three Nordic PRFS systems (Denmark, Norway, and Finland). Although there are Journal Impact Factors (JIFs) for journals, there is no similar indicator for book publishers. National publisher lists are used instead to account for the general 'quality' of books, leading to institutional rewards. But, just as the JIF is not recommended as proxy for the ‘citedness’ of a paper, a publisher rating is also not recommended as proxy for the impact of an individual book. We introduce a small fish in a big pond versus big fish in a small pond metaphor, where a ‘fish’ is a book and ‘the pond’ represents its publishing house. We investigate how books fit on this metaphorical fish and pond continuum, using WorldCat holdings (visibility) and Google scholar citations (impact), and test other variables to determine their predictive value with respect to these two indicators. Our statistics show that publisher levels do not have predictive value, when other variables are held constant. This has implications for PRFSs and book evaluations in general, as well as ongoing developments related to a newly proposed international publisher registry.

AB - This study compares publisher ratings to the visibility and impact of individual books, based on a 2017 dataset from three Nordic PRFS systems (Denmark, Norway, and Finland). Although there are Journal Impact Factors (JIFs) for journals, there is no similar indicator for book publishers. National publisher lists are used instead to account for the general 'quality' of books, leading to institutional rewards. But, just as the JIF is not recommended as proxy for the ‘citedness’ of a paper, a publisher rating is also not recommended as proxy for the impact of an individual book. We introduce a small fish in a big pond versus big fish in a small pond metaphor, where a ‘fish’ is a book and ‘the pond’ represents its publishing house. We investigate how books fit on this metaphorical fish and pond continuum, using WorldCat holdings (visibility) and Google scholar citations (impact), and test other variables to determine their predictive value with respect to these two indicators. Our statistics show that publisher levels do not have predictive value, when other variables are held constant. This has implications for PRFSs and book evaluations in general, as well as ongoing developments related to a newly proposed international publisher registry.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Book Evaluations; Book Publishing; Performance-Based Research Evaluation Systems (PRFS); Performance-based funding

U2 - 10.1162/qss_a_00134

DO - 10.1162/qss_a_00134

M3 - Journal article

VL - 2

SP - 588

EP - 615

JO - Quantitative Science Studies

JF - Quantitative Science Studies

SN - 2641-3337

IS - 2

ER -

ID: 260590624