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The “visibility” of West European astronomical research

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Abstract

Publications and citations of five West European astronomical communities (Switzerland, Sweden, GFR, France and Spain) are compared. A large proportion of astronomers are sparsely cited or not cited at all, a fact which shows that estimations of the number of scientists based upon citation statistics are underestimates. It is found that publication rates are similar but citation rates very dissimilar in the five countries. No clear explanation of these differences is found, except for Spain. A plea is made to use citation statistics rather than publication statistics for evaluation.

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  1. Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg 11, Centre de Données Stellaires, Rue de l'Université, 67000, Strasbourg, (France)

    C. Jaschek

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  1. C. Jaschek
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Jaschek, C. The “visibility” of West European astronomical research. Scientometrics 23, 377–393 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02029805

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