Event Details

This workshop aims to help research office, planning office, and library staff with responsible bibliometric analysis, interpretation and reporting. The focus is on developing familiarity with statistical concepts and understanding so that these can be applied in practice to improve the identification and communication of key messages from bibliometric analysis.

Bibliometrics is a context that does not lend itself well to traditional statistical approaches. This workshop provides an introduction to basic statistical concepts and, crucially, explores how these relate specifically to bibliometric data and indicators. We examine the impact these statistical aspects have on the responsible use of bibliometrics, particularly the analysis and presentation of bibliometric data and the interpretation of bibliometric indicators.  For example:  How precisely should we interpret bibliometric results for practical use?  Are we really seeing a pattern in our data or just normal statistical variation?  How can we report numerical bibliometric data in ways that encourage responsible use of those data?

By the end of the workshop participants will:

• Understand how statistical concerns come into play in the analysis, presentation, and interpretation of bibliometrics, especially in the context of responsible metrics
• Be familiar with some key statistical concepts relevant to bibliometrics
• Have an appreciation of how normalisation works in bibliometrics and why it is used
• Be able to explain why all bibliometric indicators should be considered statistical estimates
• Have reviewed some formal statistical approaches that can be used to quantify uncertainty, i.e. around bibliometric indicators

Target Audience

This workshop is aimed at research office, planning office and library staff who currently use bibliometrics in their roles but who have little or no background in statistics.