Research funding and reputation in the UK have, for over two decades, been increasingly dependent on a regular peer-review of all UK departments. This is to move to a system more based on bibliometrics. Assessment exercises of this kind influence the behavior of institutions, departments and individuals, and therefore bibliometrics will have effects beyond simple measurement.

Scholarly usage data provides unique opportunities to address the known shortcomings of citation analysis. However, the collection, processing and analysis of usage data remains an area of active research. This article provides a review of the state-of-the-art in usage-based informetric, i.e. the use of usage data to study the scholarly process.

The allocation of resources for research is increasingly based on so-called ‘bibliometrics’. Scientists are now deemed to be successful on the sole condition that their work be abundantly cited. This world-wide trend appears to enjoy support not only by granting agencies (whose task is obviously simplified by extensive recourse to bibliometrics), but also by the scientists themselves (who seem ...

introduction: the articles indexed in accredited citation databases essentially indicate how scientists share knowledge and promote sustainable development in each country. therefore, according to citations to the papers of individuals, it could be possible to assess the rate of their acceptability in the scientific community. the main objective of this study was to review lotka's law of scient...