Benchmarking publication metrics for Indian business researchers

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Behl ◽  
Meena Chavan ◽  
Pankaj Dutta ◽  
Pratima Amol Sheorey

Purpose There is no particularly efficient way to measure research output, but effectual assessment of research output is necessary to motivate and encourage researchers to enhance their research performance and disseminate knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the exacerbating pressure on Indian academics to deliver incessantly in terms of research output and identify an agreeable way to increase research output. The metric explores trends in management publications by Indian academics and presents an overview of collaborative practices by Indian management researchers that could shine a light on the trends of collaborative publishing future. Design/methodology/approach The study focuses on publications in the area of Business and Management. Scopus was used with advanced filters to draw relevant research papers. Data were then sorted and filtered on the basis of quality determined through Australian Business Deans Council rankings and diverse bibliometric information to understand the pattern of research output of Indian academics. Findings The research found that the rate of collaboration with researchers from the home country is low for top rated publications. Majority of publications were listed in Scopus indexed journals, whereas a handful featured in A and A* journals. A and A* journals were predominantly co-authored with academics from universities outside the country. Tradeoff was achieved by majority of authors by getting published in B, followed by C category journals to achieve research outputs. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to publications in the area of Business and Management and may be extended to other disciplines such as economics, engineering, law, medical sciences, etc., to understand publishing trends at universities in the country. The study can also be conducted in understanding a similar dilemma with academics at other countries that are evolving in research culture. Practical implications The study would help management researchers to dig deep into the root cause and understand why and how collaborations within and outside the country impact the quality of publications. The results would further encourage ranking agencies to award suitable grades to colleges that promote collaboration within the country as well as international collaboration. The study also conducts a benchmarking exercise of the institutions in the country that would be useful for researchers, journals and colleges. Originality/value While earlier studies have highlighted the importance of foreign collaborations in academic publishing, there are a handful of studies that have focused on the role of collaboration within the home country. The practice of Indian authors collaborating with Indian counterparts at other universities would help understand the expertise of researchers at different universities and encourage the collaboration process and quality of publications in the country.

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 123-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Richard ◽  
Geoff Plimmer ◽  
Kim-Shyan Fam ◽  
Charles Campbell

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between positive incentives (perceived organisational support) and negative incentives (publish or perish), on both academic publication productivity and marketing academics’ quality of life. While publish-or-perish pressure is a common technique to improve academics’ performance, its punishment orientation may be poorly suited to the uncertain, creative work that research entails and be harmful to academics’ life satisfaction and other well-being variables. In particular, it may interfere with family commitments, and harm the careers of academic women. While perceived organisational support may be effective in encouraging research outputs and be positive for well-being, it may be insufficient as a motivator in the increasingly competitive and pressured world of academia. These issues are important for individual academics, for schools wishing to attract good staff, and the wider marketing discipline wanting to ensure high productivity and quality of life amongst its members. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model was developed and empirically tested using self-report survey data from 1,005 academics across five continents. AMOS structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings – The findings indicate that the most important determinants of publishing success and improved well-being of academics is organisational support rather than a “publish-or-perish” culture. Research limitations/implications – The use of a self-report survey may have an impact (and potential bias) on the perceived importance and career effect of a “publish-or-perish” culture. However, current levels of the publish-or-perish culture appear to have become harmful, even for top academic publishers. Additional longitudinal data collection is proposed. Practical implications – The challenge to develop tertiary systems that support and facilitate world-leading research environments may reside more in organisational support, both perceived and real, rather than a continuation (or adoption) of a publish-or-perish environment. There are personal costs, in the form of health concerns and work–family conflict, associated with academic success, more so for women than men. Originality/value – This study is the first to empirically demonstrate the influence and importance of “publish-or-perish” and“perceived organisational support” management approaches on marketing academic publishing performance and academic well-being.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tehreem Fatima ◽  
Muhammad Saeed Meo ◽  
Festus Victor Bekun ◽  
Tella Oluwatoba Ibrahim

Purpose According to the crusade of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs-6, 7,8,12 and 13) that addressed pertinent issues around, clean access to water, access to energy, responsible consumption and climate change mitigation alongside, respectively, Paris Kyoto Protocol agreement of mitigation of climate changes issues of vision 2030. Design/methodology/approach This purpose of this study aimed to assess the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis following the ecological footprint perspective with a data set covering the period 1995–2018. It is well-established that anthropogenic human activities are the root cause of environmental deterioration. To this end, the current study is fitted in a multivariate framework to ameliorate for omitted variable bias for the data set from 1995–2018 on a quarterly frequency using autoregressive distributive lag methodology. Subsequently, the stationarity status of the study underlines series were examined with a conventional unit root test and the Pesaran’s bounds test for cointegration analysis. Findings Empirical evidence from the bounds test to cointegration traces the co-integration relationship between ecological footprint, conventional energy use, foreign direct investment, international tourism arrival and water resources over the sampled period. The study, in the long run, affirms the N-shaped relationship between ecological footprint and foreign direct investment in Vietnam. Additionally, the present study validates the hypothesis of energy consumption-induced pollution emissions. The relationship between international tourism arrival and quality of the environment is statistically positive in both the short-run and long-run, as 1% in international tourism arrival worsens the quality of the environment by 0.45% and 0.4% in the short-run and long-run, respectively. Interestingly, water resource's major environmental issues that have plagued the Vietnam economy are inversely related to ecological footprint. Based on findings, Vietnamese policymakers may need to consider drafting appropriate environmental policies to tackle global warming while concurrently boosting economic development. Originality/value The present study focuses on Vietnam on the determinant of environmental quality measured by a broader indicator (ecological footprint). It is well-established that anthropogenic human activities are the root cause of environmental deterioration. The present study claims to distinct from previous literature in two-folds, namely, in terms of scope. Vietnam holds a very interesting energy mix and environmental dynamics, which has been ignored in the literature. Second, we argue to be the first based on our survey to explore the theme by incorporation of water resources and foreign direct investment intensification in the conventional pollution determinant model. This is in a bid to highlights the policy blueprint for the country (Vietnam), which is currently plagued with high pollution issues and the region at large.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 826-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Gray ◽  
Markus J. Milne

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a counter-narrative to accounts of specific species extinction. The authors place humanity’s ways of organising at the core and recognise that only fundamental re-appraisal of humanity’s taken-for-granted narratives offers hope for biodiversity and sustainability. The authors challenge producers of accounts of all sorts to reconsider the context and level of resolution of their accounts. The authors argue that humankind is the root cause of most (if not all) current species extinctions; that such extinctions represent one reason why humanity might itself be threatened with extinction; and why human extinction might be a good thing. The authors need to imagine other, better, futures. Design/methodology/approach The piece is an essay which assembles a wide range of literature in order to support its contentions. Findings There are many individual accounts of species which explore the (albeit very serious) symptoms of a problem without, the authors maintain, examining the systematic source of the problem. The source problem is western mankind’s organisation and somewhat taciturn conception of humanity. There is a lack of accounts offering new possibilities. Research limitations/implications The piece is an essay and, consequently, limited to the quality of the argument presented. The essay suggests that the principal implications relate to how producers of counter-accounts frame their construction of accounts and how accounts of species extinction need to be more cognisant of underlying causes. Practical implications Without substantial change, planetary ecology, including humanity, is very seriously threatened. Imagining a plausible future is a most practical act of faith. Social implications The essay suggests that as accountants the authors might think to approach the counter-accounts with a lower level of resolution: one that is directed towards a more challenging notion of what it is to be human. Originality/value Whilst building upon the growing sophistication in the understanding of (new) accounts and responding to the emerging literatures on biodiversity, species extinction and utopian vision the authors offer what the authors believe to be a unique suggestion in the accounting literature about the extinction of mankind.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 437-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jay Polonsky ◽  
Romana Garma ◽  
John D. Mittelstaedt

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the global contribution of academics to marketing literature between 1999 and 2003, based on an examination of the location of academics institution of employment, as reported in published works. The data is used to evaluate the global dispersion of publishing.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the method of content analysis where the authorship of all articles in 20 leading marketing journals between 1999 and 2003 is examined. An empirical examination of performance was undertaken across geographic regions. There was also an examination of whether the quality of journal affected regional performance.FindingsThe research found that there is a significant “bias” of authorship within the 20 journals examined, with the majority of works published by academics at institutions in North America. There is some variation in regional performance based on the type of journal examined.Research limitations/implicationsThere was no attempt to empirically examine why differences might exist. The study only focused on a sample of 20 English language journals over five years. These journals have been included in studies that list the leading marketing journal for US and European academics.Practical implicationsThe research suggests that there may in fact be regional differences in publishing behaviour. It is unclear if these differences relate to variations in the “objectives” of institutions within each country or other factors, such as the North American publish‐or‐perish mentality. The research posits that a marketing knowledge may be unnecessarily restricted, if there is a bias against non‐North American perspectives.Originality/valueWhile there have been other works examining research performance of institutions, there has been limited examination in marketing on the nation in which authors work and none have used a broad cross‐section of journals. This work takes a global “snapshot” of national research performance within marketing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Farkas ◽  
Rina Hirsch ◽  
Julia Kokina

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine potential determinants of management’s agreement with internal auditor recommendations of an interim assurance engagement. Design/methodology/approach The experiment involved a 2 × 2 × 2 design with internal auditor gender, mode of communication and root cause variables randomly assigned to 228 experienced managers. Findings When the internal auditor includes a root cause for an identified deficiency in an internal audit report, management perceptions of the quality of that report improve. The gender of the internal auditor who communicates the audit finding with management does not significantly impact management’s perceptions. Additionally, communicating the internal audit report via e-mail instead of videoconference results in improved managerial perceptions of the quality of the internal auditor. While improvements in perceptions of internal auditor quality lead to greater agreement with internal auditor recommendations, improvements in perceptions of report quality lead to greater implementation of internal-auditor-recommended remediation strategies. Research limitations/implications The operationalization of the manipulated variables of interest (communication mode, gender and root cause) may limit the generalizability of the study’s results. Practical implications The paper includes managerial implications for internal auditors’ choice of communication mode and inclusion of a root cause in interim internal audit reports. Originality/value This study provides evidence on the factors that could improve management’s perceptions of internal auditors’ work. The findings can help organizations, such as the Institute of Internal Auditors, to better understand how to address the needs of those who communicate with internal auditors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 195 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Richard Handley Jones

In this article I reflect on ways in which the neoliberal university and its administrative counterpart, new public management (NPM), affect academic publishing activity. One characteristic feature of NPM is the urge to use simple numerical indicators of research output as a tool to allocate funding and, in practice if not in theory, as a means of assessing research quality. This ranges from the use of journal impact factors (IF) and ranking of journals to publication points to determine what types of work in publishing is counted as meritorious for funding allocation. I argue that it is a fallacy to attempt to assess quality of scholarship through quantitative measures of publication output. I base my arguments on my experiences of editing a Norwegian geographical journal over a period of 16 years, along with my experiences as a scholar working for many years within the Norwegian university system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 46-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Bonilla-Calero

Purpose – The aim of this study is to analyse the advantages of using an institutional repository (IR) as a complementary source to evaluate the research output produced by a university. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on previous studies where IRs have been used as source to analyse the research output. Findings – Some advantages of using repositories as a tool to evaluate research output are: they help to evaluate the research output from different perspectives, using multidimensional approaches that combine various factors and types of documents with free access to all researchers, evaluators and society in general. Practical implications – The paper is aimed at researchers and experts that use Web of Knowledge and Scopus services to evaluate the research output. It recommends that they consider using IRs as an additional, practical and complementary tool to traditional databases. Originality/value – To underline the advantages of using an IR as a complementary source in the evaluation of research outputs; this evaluative approach is not sufficiently appreciated in comparison with the role of traditional (non-open access) databases. Adopting this original approach would be a significant enhancement to current research evaluation practice.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-733
Author(s):  
Thommie Burström

Purpose – It is common that junior researchers struggle in finding their own way of doing research. The purpose of this paper is therefore to use the theory of “Muddling through” in order to theorize about the junior vs senior researcher collaboration process. Design/methodology/approach – The theory of “Muddling through” is used in order to reflect on the qualities of shared collaboration between a junior and senior research colleague. Findings – The research process share the characteristics of policy making where goals many times are fuzzy, and the relationship between means to end is far from self-evident. The research process therefore demands from the senior colleague to act firm, fair and friendly in order to support and inspire junior research colleagues. Research limitations/implications – It is a personalized single case study; still it provides advice for both junior and senior research colleagues that are in the process of research collaboration. Practical implications – Junior colleagues need to have the courage of actively suggesting research topics to senior colleagues; they also need to actively reflect on the quality of their shared research collaboration process. Originality/value – The study provides the research community with a sensemaking example of coaching, inspiration and mentoring in the research collaboration process.


F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Thi-Huyen-Trang Nguyen ◽  
Trung Tran ◽  
The-Tung Dau ◽  
Thi-Song-Ha Nguyen ◽  
Thanh-Hung Nguyen ◽  
...  

Background: In the context of globalization, Vietnamese universities, whose primary function is teaching, there is a need to improve research performance. Methods: Based on SSHPA data, an exclusive database of Vietnamese social sciences and humanities researchers’ productivity, between 2008 and 2019 period, this study analyzes the research output of Vietnamese universities in the field of social sciences and humanities. Results: Vietnamese universities have been steadily producing a high volume of publications in the 2008-2019 period, with a peak of 598 articles in 2019. Moreover, many private universities and institutions are also joining the publication race, pushing competitiveness in the country. Conclusions: Solutions to improve both quantity and quality of Vietnamese universities’ research practice in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 could be applying international criteria in Vietnamese higher education, developing scientific and critical thinking for general and STEM education, and promoting science communication.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 1443-1461
Author(s):  
Sidhartha Sahoo ◽  
Shriram Pandey

PurposeThis study is an attempt to evaluating the growth of scientific literature in the domain of coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic research based on scientometric indicators: prolific countries and relative citation impact (RCI); influential institutions; author analysis and network, h-index and citation; DC (degree of collaboration), CC (collaboration coefficient), MCI (modified collaboration index) in the subject domain of coronavirus and Covid-19 research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted approaches to obtain the literature data from Scopus database from 2000 to 2020 by conducting a systematic search using keywords related to the studied subject domain. In total, 15,297 numbers of records were considered for the literature analysis considering the real significant growth of this subject domain. This study presented the scientometric analysis of these publications. Furthermore, statistical correlations have been used to understand the collaboration pattern. Visualization tool VOSviewer is used to construct the co-author network.FindingsThe present study found that 53.57% (8,195) of the research documents published on the open-access platform. Journal of Virology was found to be most preferred journal by the researcher producing around 839(5.48%) articles. USA and China dominate in the research output, and the University of Hong Kong has produced the highest number of research paper 547(3.58%). A significant portion of the research documents are published in the subject domain of medicine (49.70%), followed by immunology and microbiology (35.72%), and biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology subject domains (22.32%). There has been an unparalleled proliferation of publications on COVID-19 since January 2020 and also a significant distribution of research funds across the globe.Research limitations/implicationsThe study exclusively examines 15,297 research outputs which have been indexed in the Scopus database from 2000 to 2020 (till 01 April 2020). Thus, documents published in any other different channels and sources which are not covered in Scopus are excluded from the purview of research.Practical implicationsIt will be beneficial for researchers and practitioners worldwide for understanding the growth of scientific literature in the coronavirus and COVID-19 and identifying potential collaborator.Originality/valueConsidering the global impact and social distress due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, this study is significant in the present scenario for identifying the growth of scientific literature in this field and evolving of this domain of research around the globe. The research results are useful to identify valuable research patterns from publications and of developments in the field of coronavirus and COVID-19.


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