Tuesday, 21 July 2015

What determines researchers’ scientific impact? A case study of Quebec researchers

Source: http://spp.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/07/14/scipol.scv038.abstract

What determines researchers’ scientific impact? A case study of Quebec researchers

+ Author Affiliations

¹Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box. 6079, Montreal, QC, H3C 3A7, Canada and
²University of Montreal, P.O. Box. 6128, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7 Canada

↵* Corresponding author. Email: catherine.beaudry@polymtl.ca

Abstract

Using a data set integrating information
about researchers’ funding and publications in Quebec (Canada), this
paper identifies
the main determinants of citation counts as one
measure of research impact. Using two-stage least square regressions to
control
for endogeneity, the results confirm the
significant and positive relationship between the number of articles and
citation
counts. Our results also show that scientists with
more articles in higher impact factor journals generally receive more
citations
and so do scientists who publish with a larger team
of authors. Hence the greater visibility provided by a more prolific
scientific
production, better journals, and more co-authors,
all contribute to increasing the perceived impact of articles. All else
being equal, male and female receive the same
number of citations. These results suggest that the most important
determinants
of researchers’ citations are the journals in which
they publish, as well the collaborative nature of their research.