How to Use Citation Analysis

Every year, in hundreds of universities and colleges throughout the world, thousands of academic administrators go through the painful process of evaluating tens of thousands of candidates for promotion. In most cases, their decisions are based on a faculty committee’s appraisal of the candidate’s teaching ability, research performance, and involvement in the scholarly community. Although this process has been used to evaluate and promote faculty for some 80 years, 1 many people now challenge the validity of this system. Some authors claim that personality and research biases play too great a role in faculty peer reviews.z Much the same is said about peer review in connection with research funding. s Others find the faculty review process somewhat capricious. Douglas Needham, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, claims that the subjective nature of faculty evaluation often results in the use of inconsistent criteria to evaluate different individuals.q Presumably, it’s only fair that all candidates in a department be judged by consistent criteria-at least for the same position. The economic and social significance of these evaluations should not be underestimated. Tenure, for example, involves a substantial investment for the university. By granting tenure, a university commits itself to one million dollars or more over the life of a career.z In effect, a well-researched tenure evaluation is insurance against an unwise inOctober 31.1983