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European research policy and bibliometric indicators, 1990–2005

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Abstract

This paper describes and analyses the role played in the development of bibliometric indicators—and the use made of bibliometric indicators for policy purposes—by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Research in the period 1990–2005.

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Notes

  1. “Rapport européen sur les indicateurs scientifiques et technologiques” (REIST).

  2. At the time, the OECD did not systematically present an “EU total” figure in all their graphs and tables. REIST provided EU totals for all indicators, which allowed the performance of the EU as a region to be compared with that of other major S&T players.

  3. An example of the impact of these publications is provided by Holbrook (1995), who reviewed the first REIST report. Holbrook noted that “the European Commission has produced a substantial volume of S&T program indicators modelled on the highly successful biennial S&T indicators reports issued by the National Science Foundation of the United States”, admitted that, compared to the OECD, “the Europeans have the advantage of both money and legislation on their side” and that “one can always find things to criticise in a first edition”, but concluded, nevertheless, that, in spite of the OECD’s excellent track record in the field of statistics and analysis, including in the field of S&T, “the staff at the OECD secretariat have good reason to be worried: they are no longer the only game in town”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission, DG Research, Wetstraat 200, 1049, Brussels, Belgium

    Henri Delanghe, Brian Sloan & Ugur Muldur

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  1. Henri Delanghe
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  2. Brian Sloan
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  3. Ugur Muldur
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Correspondence to Henri Delanghe.

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The information and views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.

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Delanghe, H., Sloan, B. & Muldur, U. European research policy and bibliometric indicators, 1990–2005. Scientometrics 87, 389–398 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0308-3

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