Moscow International University Ranking: critical review and geopolitical effects

The Moscow International University Ranking (MosIUR) is a global university ranking launched in 2017 with the intention of evaluating universities by considering three essential dimensions (education, research, and knowledge transfer). This ranking was designed and developed by the Russian Union of Rectors following a direct request from President Vladimir Putin. The objective of this work is to perform a threefold analysis of this ranking. First, a methodological analysis is carried out, focused on describing the nature of the indicators and sources employed. Second, a geopolitical analysis aims to determine how countries are represented in this new global ranking. Third, a webometric analysis is done, focused on the online visibility of the ranking. The results reveal MosIUR to be a ranking with an outstanding number of webometric indicators and clearly oriented towards transference to society. However, some methodological concerns arise regarding a few metrics. The geopolitical position of developed countries is similar to that in other global rankings, but slight differences emerge, such as the stronger presence of Russian universities. The cybermetric analysis confirms that, despite being international, this ranking is strongly limited to Russia. It can be concluded that, except for the palpable predominance of the USA, each ranking tends to place universities from their own country in a better position. The creation of MosIUR by the Russian government can thus be perceived as a political strategy to improve the reputation of Russian universities, increase funding, and accelerate their transformation into world-class universities.

Webometric as diagnostic tools of digital sociology: contents, purpose, usage experience

The essence of Webometrics as a sociological method of collecting primary material by studying the content of content, services and the convenience of technological solutions for accessing it by users has been revealed in the article. A justification for the need to develop digital technologies for social diagnostics using webometric indicators has been provided. Based on the analysis of scientific sources on the problem, the significant potential of Webometrics in the study of various aspects of scientific, educational, and political activities, as well as its universal character as a methodological tool have been shown.A refined concept of Webometrics as a method of collecting primary sociological data has been given, the possibility of using it to study Internet content has been described. The rules and conditions for effective use of Webometrics have been substantiated, based on the usage of content analysis methods and procedures for the development of its forms; to include usability and visibility in the analysis of technological characteristics of Internet portals; to make the research parameters used reliable by separating them from official documents of state policy and corporate strategies; to combine traditional methods of fixing primary data and computer algorithms. A specific webometric technique has been revealed in detail, which implies fixing the formal status of the Internet source under study, the content parameters of information representation of information about the implementation of state policy on the example of working with young people, the availability of services, as well as indicators of the site’s technology and ease of access to it by the population. An example of obtaining data on the basis of Webometrics, as well as its interpretation has been given.Based on the data obtained, an analysis of the combination of traditional and modern interactive services, which are currently presented on official websites, has been made, the shortcomings of the existing situation for effective information policy in the field of work with young people have been shown. It has been concluded about the relevance of webometric methods and the great potential for their development within the framework of digital sociology.

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LARGE SCALE HARVESTING OF WEBOMETRIC INDICATORS

The main purpose of scientific rankings is not only comparison, but also stimulating the development of universities and research institutes, improving the effectiveness of their educational and research processes. However, existing webometric ratings are not suitable for this task because of the lack of the possibility of their analysis and verification. The solution is to change the approach to webometric measurements, to perform them based on the principles of regular collection and openness of source data. The article discusses the indicators used in the tasks of academic webometrics, their reliability and stability, substantiates the need for regular collection of the values of these indicators to improve the quality of data and analyze their dynamics. Based on the experience of implementing a project to research the Russian academic web space (http://www. webometrix.ru), problems are analyzed that arise when collecting the values of webometric indicators of sites of research organizations and institutions of higher education on a global scale with a frequency of at least 1 time per month.The author describes a distributed system for collecting values of webometric indicators and evaluates the necessary degree of parallelization of the process. The developed approach is universal for the tasks of collecting large amounts of information by the method of extracting data from website pages, and the collection of webometric data is also relevant for the tasks of analyzing other thematic segments of web space, such as library websites.

Alternative metric indicators for funding scheme evaluations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of altmetric and webometric indicators to aid with funding agencies’ evaluations of their funding schemes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses a range of altmetric and webometric indicators in terms of suitability for funding scheme evaluations, compares them to traditional indicators and reports some statistics derived from a pilot study with Wellcome Trust-associated publications. Findings – Some alternative indicators have advantages to usefully complement scientometric data by reflecting a different type of impact or through being available before citation data. Research limitations/implications – The empirical part of the results is based on a single case study and does not give statistical evidence for the added value of any of the indicators. Practical implications – A few selected alternative indicators can be used by funding agencies as part of their funding scheme evaluations if they are processed in ways that enable comparisons between data sets. Their evidence value is only weak, however. Originality/value – This is the first analysis of altmetrics or webometrics from a funding scheme evaluation perspective.

Nova fórmula revisada para o cálculo do fator de impacto web (FIW) │ New revised formula for calculating Web Impact Factor

Resumo Apresenta um histórico da medição do impacto da produção científica e mostra a necessidade de estender tal avaliação à web. Descreve como vem sendo calculado o fator de impacto em sítios web e propõe uma mudança na fórmula original, com a inclusão de um logaritmo natural ao seu denominador, a fim de se obter resultados mais acurados. A nova fórmula é aplicada aos sítios web das universidades federais da região sudeste do Brasil, obtendo-se resultados mais acurados.Palavras-chave Impacto da produção científica, Indicadores webométricos, Fator de Impacto Web, Fórmula do FIW, Logaritmo natural. Abtsract Displays a history of measuring the impact of scientific articles and shows the need to extend this assessment to the web. Describes how the impact factor on websites has been calculated and proposes a change in the original formula, with the inclusion of a natural logarithm in its denominator in order to obtain more accurate results. The new formula is applied to websites of federal universities in Southeastern Brazil.Keywords Impact of scientific production, Webometric indicators, Web Impact Factor Formula FIW, Natural logarithm.