Bibliometrics and Scholarly Communication

Course overview

This book is a work-in-progress intended to support the course INFO6550 - Bibliometrics and Scholarly Communication offered in the Master of Information at the Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University.

The course introduces students to the scholarly communication system and the use of bibliometrics to measure the production, dissemination and use of knowledge. Topics covered will include the reward system of science, peer review, scholarly publishing and open access, research funding, research evaluation, bibliometric and altmetric data sources and indicators, and networks.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

1. Explain the scholarly communication process.
2. Select appropriate data sources to conduct a bibliometric study.
3. Calculate and interpret bibliometric indicators.
4. Visualize and analyze bibliometric networks.
5. Use bibliometrics to support research evaluation processes.
6. Explain the advantages and limitations of bibliometrics.
7. Understand the social and organizational context of research evaluation

Schedule

Week	Section	Topic
1	Understanding the research system	Introduction: bibliometrics and scholarly communications
2	Understanding the research system	Journals, peer-review, and the organization and evaluation of research
3	Understanding the research system	Function, social structure, norms, and the research reward system
4	Analyzing and evaluating research	Bibliometric data sources
5	Analyzing and evaluating research	Delineating fields, disciplines, and topics
6	Analyzing and evaluating research	Measuring research outputs (authorship)
7	Analyzing and evaluating research	Measuring research impact (citations)
8	Analyzing and evaluating research	Measuring media and policy attention to research (altmetrics)
9	Analyzing and evaluating research	Visualizing research networks
10	Improving the research system	Open Research
11	Improving the research system	Bias, errors, fraud, misconduct, and questionable research practices
12	Improving the research system	Equity, diversity, and inclusion in research

Assignments

Important

Use the course Brightspace to:

- Access the detailed instruction for the assignments.

- Submit your assignments.

Other information and resources

• Use APA style for your references in all assignments.

• Use Zotero (or another reference manager of your choice) to store your references and to cite them in your work. (not mandatory, but highly recommended).

• You can use this Word template to write your assignments (not mandatory). Whether you use this template or not, use Word styles to format and structure your document.

• Have fun.