Selecting Researchers with a Not Very Long Career - The Role of Bibliometrics

Introduction The scientific community has developed many institutionalized forms of evaluation where peer review has an important role, but recently, bibliometric methods have been gaining some acceptability to assess the scientific performance. The two techniques have been related to one another in different ways: 1) bibliometric methods have been used to analyze the peer review processes (Moed, 2005, chapters 19 and 20); 2) the peer review process uses bibliometric parameters as an auxiliary instrument (Moed, 2005 chapter 18, p. 233-234); and 3) peer reviewers are called in to validate and correct the results of some bibliometric process (e.g. Norris & Oppenheim, 2003; Rinia, van Leeuwen, van Vuren, & van Raan, 1998). There are some national scientific systems that use bibliometric techniques or a mix of bibliometric techniques and peer review to decide the allocation of funding (e.g. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA); Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca (VQR)). Taking into account the advantages and limitations of bibliometric techniques and the intensive use, recently, there is a growing interest in its potential in helping peers to prepare the final decisions and therefore several studies have been made on the subject (e.g. Vieira, Cabral, & Gomes, 2014a, 2014b, Bornmann & Leydesdorff, 2013). In this study, we exploit the usability of bibliometrics as support tool this time in selecting candidates that had been awarded their PhD’s more than 6 and less than 12 years ago and had worked as independent researchers for less than 6 years. We deem this study important as: (1) there is a growing use of bibliometric indicators and it is important to know their caveats and strong points at the different levels; and (2) the use of bibliometric indicators is more controversial when applied to individual researchers, especially at initial steps of their careers.