مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Factors Affecting the Scientific Publication Productivity in Aegean Region Universities: Evaluation of 2004-2008 Period

Abstract :

This study aimed to describe the publications and citations produced by six universities harboring school of medicine in the Aegean region in the period between 2004-2008. We also investigated the factors affecting citations such as article types, number of faculty members, international collaboration, and self citations. The publications and citations produced by Pamukkale, Ege, Dokuz Eylül, Celal Bayar, Adnan Menderes and Kocatepe Universites in the period between 2004-2008 were searched on the Web of Science database provided by Thomson Reuters. Using analyze function of the software, we also investigated the number of publications produced by each institution and the type of papers. We also calculated total number of citations to published scientific papers using citation report function. In the screened period, the six universities generated 11969 publications (including articles, abstracts, reviews, proceedings papers, letters, and others) which obtained 37797 citations in the journals covered by Web of Science (mean, = 2.93 ± 0.55 citations/publication). The number of faculty members strongly correlated with number of publications and citations (r = 0988 p = 0.001, and r = 0980 p = 0.001, respectively). International collaboration and original articles received twice more citations than other type of publications (p = 0.013, and p = 0.001 respectively). Self citations accounted for about 18% of the total citations. Review articles received much higher citations. Aegean university ranked first in Aegean region with respect to number of publications and citations received. Pamukkale university ranked second after Aegean university when the ratios of publication per faculty member and citations per faculty member were considered. The number of faculty members, international collaborations, article type, and self-citations play determining role in the obtained citations in universities.