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Policy impact of bibliometric rankings of research performance of departments and individuals in economics

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Abstract

This paper examines policy-relevant effects of a yearly public ranking of individual researchers and their institutes in economics by means of their publication output in international top journals. In 1980, a grassroots ranking (‘Top 40’) of researchers in the Netherlands by means of their publications in international top journals started a competition among economists. The objective was to improve economics research in the Netherlands to an internationally competitive level. The ranking lists did stimulate output in prestigious international journals. Netherlands universities tended to perform well compared to universities elsewhere in the EU concerning volume of output in ISI source journals, but their citation impact was average. Limitations of ranking studies and of bibliometric monitoring in the field of economics are discussed.

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  1. Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), University of Leiden, Wassenaarseweg 52, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Anton J. Nederhof

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  1. Anton J. Nederhof
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Correspondence to Anton J. Nederhof.

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Nederhof, A.J. Policy impact of bibliometric rankings of research performance of departments and individuals in economics. Scientometrics 74, 163–174 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-0109-0

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