Search

This paper investigates different uses of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in national journal rankings and discusses the merits of supplementing metrics with expert assessment. Our focus is national journal rankings used as evidence to support decisions about the distribution of institutional funding or career advancement. The seven countries under comparison are China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Turkey—and the region of Flanders in Belgium. With the exception of Italy, top‐tier journals used in national rankings include those classified at the highest level, or according to tier, or points implemented. A total of 3,565 (75.8%) out of 4,701 unique top‐tier journals were identified as having a JIF, with 55.7% belonging to the first Journal Impact Factor quartile. Journal rankings in China, Flanders, Poland, and Turkey classify journals with a JIF as being top‐tier, but only when they are in the first quartile of the Average Journal Impact Factor Percentile. Journal rankings that result from expert assessment in Denmark, Finland, and Norway regularly classify journals as top‐tier outside the first quartile, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. We conclude that experts, when tasked with metric‐informed journal rankings, take into account quality dimensions that are not covered by JIFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P-GRADE portal is one of the most widely used general-purpose grid portal in Europe. The paper summarizes the most advanced features of P-GRADE, such as parameter sweep workflow execution, multi-grid workflow execution and integration with the DSpace workflow repository. It also shows the NGS P-GRADE portal that extends P-GRADE with the GEMLCA legacy code execution support in Grid systems, as well as with coarse-grain workflow interoperability services. Next, the paper introduces the second generation P-GRADE portal called WS-PGRADE that merges the advanced features of the first generation P-GRADE portals and extends them with new workflow and architecture concepts. Finally, the application-specific science gateway of the CancerGrid project is briefly described to demonstrate that application-specific portals can easily be developed on top of the general-purpose WS-PGRADE portal. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For measuring multilevel impact, we introduce the distributive h-indices, which balance two important components (breadth and strength) of multilevel impact at various citing levels. After exploring the theoretical properties of these indices, we studied two cases: 57 library and information science ( LIS) journals and social science research in 38 European countries/territories. Results reveal that there are approximate power-law relations between distributive h-indices and some underlying citation indicators, such as total citations, total citing entities, and the h-index. Distributive h-indices provide comprehensive measures for multilevel impact, and lead to a potential tool for citation analysis, particularly at aggregative levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the strategy to set up a new information service, including a physical Resource Centre, the analysis of information needs of clinical research professionals involved with clinical research and development in the UK and Europe was required. It also aimed to identify differences in requirements between the various roles of professionals and establish what information resources are currently used.A user-needs survey online of the members of The Institute. Group discussions with specialist subcommittees of members.Two hundred and ninety members responded to the online survey of 20 questions. This makes it a response rate of 7.9%. Members expressed a lack of information in their particular professional area, and lack the skills to retrieve and appraise information.The results of the survey are discussed in more detail, giving indications of what the information service should collect, what types of materials should be provided to members and what services should be on offer.These were developed from the results of the needs analysis and submitted to management for approval. Issues of concern, such as financial constraint and staff constraints are also discussed.There is an opportunity to build a unique collection of clinical research material, which will promote The Institute not only to members, but also to the wider health sector. Members stated that the most physical medical libraries don't provide what they need, but the main finding through the survey and discussions is that it's pointless to set up‘yet another medical library’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the research document "Nachrichten fur Dokumentation." This issue of the West German documentation journal includes a supplement containing 83 abstracts of papers on documentation. While these cover primarily the German language literature, among them are also several concerned with the documentation activities of other European countries.

The article discusses "Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies in Europe (RACE). The RACE Programme is focused on Integrated Broadband Communications (IBC) and the development of technology for the introduction of commercial IBC services in 1995. The programme was adopted by the Council of Ministers in December 1987, and work started in January 1988. Within its framework, about 2000 leading experts are collaborating in 85 projects. With all the available funds under RACE having been committed, no further cells for proposals are planned.