A bibliometric approach for managing institutional and personal scientific investments, with examples from the biological sciences
Self assessment should include asking ourselves how we might allocate our investments to enhance the impact of our publication portfolio. I develop an easily implemented scientific investment portfolio analysis tool based on citations. Using Google Scholar data, I provide examples at individual and institutional levels for two cases in the biological sciences. Visualizing these data in three dimensions reveals striking degrees of structure and variation in how investments have been made and in how they have performed among subdisciplines or scientific market sectors. Legacy and time-corrected performance also provide contrasting views. This approach provides a quantitative way to assess market sectors in relation to each other in a way that should be broadly useful in planning future scientific investments for individuals, departments, or institutions.