Citation Analysis
This page provides information on the methodology and reporting process for the Citation Analysis provided as part of the Promotion and Tenure process.
Citation Analysis for Promotion and Tenure: Methodology and Reporting Process
Prepared by the NJIT Librarians
For more information, contact
John Kromer
Associate University Librarian for Research and Engagement john.kromer@njit.edu
Revised: 03/15/2026
Table of Contents
Purpose of a Citation Analysis Report
Overview of Citation Analysis Reports
Request Workflow for Citation Analysis Reports
3a. Requests by the Office of the Provost
3b: Requests by the Department Chairs/P&T Committees and Individual Faculty
3c: Other University Officials (President, Board of Trustees, etc.)
Citation Analysis Workflow
Conducting a Citation Analysis
Databases and Tools
6a: Preparing for Promotion and Tenure: Maintain Author Profile
6b. Differences Across Disciplines
Interpreting the Citation Analysis Report
Consulting with the Candidate
Submitting the Report
Question or Additional Information
Appendix A: Sample STEM Citation Analysis Report
Appendix B: White Paper on Citation Analysis for Promotion and Tenure
NJIT Librarians use Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar
Humanities, History, and HCAD Disciplines
Date of Report
Summary of Tools with Citation Search Features
Primary Tools
Comparing Primary Citation Analysis Tools
Some Additional Citation Analysis Tools
Selected References and Further Reading
Purpose of a Citation Analysis Report
This document explains the methodology the NJIT Librarians use to create citation analysis reports for faculty promotion and tenure dossiers. The primary purpose is to provide transparency about how citation counts and research impact indicators are gathered, verified, and reported to the Office of the Provost and the University Promotion and Tenure Committee.
The citation analysis will:
Provide objective citation data related to a faculty’s scholarly publication
Offer context for evaluating a faculty’s scholarly visibility
Ensure accurate and verified citation counts across multiple approved databases
Overview of Citation Analysis Reports
The citation analysis report measures how often the faculty’s publications are cited in scholarly literature. These citation patterns may indicate:
Scholarly influence within a discipline
Visibility of research within the academic community
Patterns of engagement with a faculty’s work
Citation analysis does not measure research quality, teaching effectiveness, or broader scholarly contributions.
The common indicators included in citation analysis reports may include:
Citation counts for individual publications
Comparative citation counts across multiple databases
Calculated h-index values based on verified publications
Request Workflow for Citation Analysis Reports
During the promotion and tenure process, the Office of the Provost requests a citation analysis report for faculty seeking promotion and tenure. These reports, prepared by NJIT Librarians, provide a structured analysis of the scholarly impact of a candidate’s publications using established citation databases.
Additional requests may be made by the following individuals or groups:
Department Chair / Department P&T committee
Individual Faculty
Other university officials (President, Board of Trustees, etc.)
3a. Requests by the Office of the Provost
When the Office of the Provost requests a citation analysis report, the request is provided to the University Librarian, along with the candidate’s official CV submitted for promotion and tenure review, who will redistribute them to the appropriate subject liaison librarians to perform the
citation analysis reports. These requests are treated as top priority to ensure the reports are completed by the required deadlines provided by the provost.
3b: Requests by the Department Chairs/P&T Committees and Individual Faculty
When the department chairs/department P&T committees, or individual faculty, request a citation analysis report, the request is directed to their departmental subject liaison librarian. If the request is for promotion and tenure review, the required CV must follow the format described in the P&T CV Format and the Dossier Preparation Guidelines for Promotion to Professor, Associate Professor and/or Tenure.
3c: Other University Officials (President, Board of Trustees, etc.)
When the other university officials, such as the President or Board of Trustees, request a citation analysis report, the request is directed to the University Librarian. The University Librarian will then assign the appropriate subject librarian to prepare the report using the same methodology used for faculty promotion and tenure citation analyses.
Citation Analysis Workflow
The provost’s office requests a citation report from the library.
The librarian receives the candidate’s official CV.
The librarian performs citation searches in Scopus, Web of Science, & Google Scholar.
The librarian manually verifies the results and compiles them into a report.
The candidate reviews the report for accuracy.
The final report is submitted to the provost’s office.
Conducting a Citation Analysis
Upon receiving the request, the subject liaison librarian assigned to prepare the citation analysis report will promptly email the candidate to explain the process and share a copy of the official CV received from the provost’s office to confirm it is the most current version. If the candidate asks the librarian to use a different CV, the librarian must receive written approval from the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs before using the revised version.
The subject liaison librarian uses the publications list located in the “Scholarly and Creative Activities” section of the official CV as the basis for conducting the citation analysis and preparing the report. Any changes to the publication list that differ from the submitted CV must be approved by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, with sufficient time for the librarian to revise the report.
Citation analysis reports are prepared carefully and do not rely on auto-generated reports from databases. Expertise in librarianship and the manual verification process are required to ensure accuracy.
Librarians respond as quickly as possible to requests, but to meet the required deadlines, they need at least two weeks’ notice for STEM disciplines and three weeks for Architecture, Art and Design, History, and Humanities disciplines. Additional time may be required if multiple requests are received simultaneously, especially during active Promotion & Tenure Committee review periods. If deadline concerns arise, the Associate University Librarian for Research and Engagement will communicate with the Office of the Provost.
If a citation analysis report has already been completed within 45 days of the provost’s deadline, a new report will generally not be produced, as citation counts typically change very little during that timeframe. The report is dated and reflects the scholar’s impact as of that date.
Databases and Tools
Citation counts vary across databases because each indexes a different set of journals, books, and conference proceedings. For this reason, the NJIT Librarian consults multiple databases to ensure comprehensive coverage and provide the most accurate representation of scholarly impact. The primary citation databases and tools used are:
Scopus
Web of Science
Google Scholar
6a: Preparing for Promotion and Tenure: Maintain Author ProfileFaculty preparing for promotion and tenure can improve the accuracy of citation analysis by taking steps in advance, such as reviewing their author profile in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Publications are sometimes missing and misattributed in these systems, and corrections may take several weeks to be processed by database providers. An ORCID identifier helps ensure accurate attribution of publications and reduces confusion due to name variations.
6b. Differences Across Disciplines
Citation practices vary significantly across academic disciplines. In STEM fields, journal articles are the primary research output, citation databases provide relatively strong coverage, and citation counts tend to accumulate quickly. In the humanities, architecture, and art and design disciplines, scholarly communication differs significantly and scholarly impact may be reflected through books, exhibits and curated shows, design projects, professional awards, invited lectures, media coverage, book reviews, and public engagement. Citation databases provide more limited coverage in these fields. Therefore, librarians may supplement citation analysis with additional indicators of scholarly influence to provide a broader view of research impact.
Interpreting the Citation Analysis Report
The report will be constructed in a spreadsheet for most NJIT disciplines or in a narrative for HCAD, History, and Humanities. The reports will include:
The candidate’s name, department(s), date of search, and the name of the librarian who prepared the report.
The report will show each publication under the same categories as required on the official CV. Categories for STEM subjects included in the report are: A) Authored Books,
B) Edited Books and Edited Conference Proceedings, C) Book Chapters, D) Refereed Journal Articles, and E) Refereed Conference Papers.
For STEM discipline spreadsheets, citation counts will be shown in a column next to each publication for each database searched.
An additional column will show the higher count between the two main databases, Scopus and Web of Science.
The h-index will be manually calculated using the citation data compiled in the report, rather than relying on the h-index found displayed on the candidate’s author profile page in the database.
See the sample reports located in the Appendix section of this document.
Consulting with the Candidate
To ensure maximum accuracy, the librarian will contact the candidate to discuss any questions about the citation analysis report. However, any substantial changes, such as adding publications not included in the official CV, must be approved by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.
If questions arise regarding how a publication should be categorized, the librarian will first consult the P&T CV Format and the Dossier Preparation Guidelines for Promotion to Professor, Associate Professor and/or Tenure, and then consult with the candidate and the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs as needed.
Submitting the Report
When the librarian completes the Citation Analysis Report, it will be emailed to the candidate for review. The candidate will typically have 10 days to review the report and provide feedback. The librarian will correct any identified errors at this time. However, any significant changes, such as adding publications not included in the original CV, must be approved by the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and may affect the librarian’s ability to meet the required deadline.
Once the librarian and the candidate confirm that the report is accurate and consistent with the procedures outlined in this document, the Cited Reference Report will be forwarded to the Office of the Provost, with a copy provided to the candidate.
Question or Additional Information
Occasionally, the University Promotion and Tenure Committee may request additional information, which the librarians will provide this information, as feasible.
Faculty candidates who have questions about citation analysis or citation reports are encouraged to contact their subject specialist librarian. For general inquiries, contact the NJIT Library at askalibrarian@njit.edu.
For further information, see the White Paper on Citation Analysis for Promotion & Tenure in Appendix C below, as well as the Research Guide for Faculty on Citation Analysis and for HCAD Faculty.
Appendix A: Sample STEM Citation Analysis Report
Candidate Name: | John A. Pelesko | |||
Department Name: | Office of the Provost | |||
Report Date: | May 2023 | |||
Prepared By: | Joseph J. Mercuri | |||
Cited Reference Report - Research Productivity Summary | ||||
Databases |
SCOPUS |
WOS |
MathSciNet |
GOOGLE SCHOLAR |
Total documents identified in |
44 |
38 |
19 |
48 |
Total citations from identified documents |
900 |
685 |
447 |
2378 |
Average number of citations per document |
20.45 |
18.03 |
23.53 |
49.54 |
Total citations excluding self-citations |
853 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
h-index |
16 |
14 |
7 |
23 |
h-index excluding self citations |
16 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
For additional information see Details tab (worksheet) | ||||
NOTE: for information on procedures and tools used see P&T Cited Reference Search Procedures by the NJIT Reference Librarians link below. | ||||
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rYljpZgxhIWX6WK63wkQ9b-aqiqlYSltjMd1BAfaAvs/edit?usp=sharing | ||||
No CV was used for this report
Date: May 8 2023
Candidate Name: |
John A. Pelesko |
| Citations | h-index |
| |
Department Name: |
Office of the Provost |
Scopus total citations |
900 |
15 |
| |
Report Date: |
May 2023 |
Scopus total excluding self-citations |
853 |
16 |
| |
Prepared by: |
Joseph J. Mercuri |
WOS total citations |
685 |
14 |
| |
|
|
Highest score total citations |
909 |
16 |
| |
|
|
MathSciNet |
447 |
7 |
| |
|
|
Google Scholar |
2378 |
23 |
| |
Cited Reference Report - Research Productivity No CV Used | ||||||
| Cited in Scopus |
Cited in WOS | Highest Score from Scopus or WOS |
Math SciNet | Google Scholar | |
Total citations | 900 | 685 | 909 | 447 | 2378 | |
| Authored Books |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pelesko, J. A. (2007a). Self assembly: The science of things that put themselves together. New York: Chapman & Hall. |
117 |
|
117 |
|
236 |
| Pelesko, J.A., Bernstein, D.H. (2002). Modeling MEMS and NEMS. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. |
|
|
|
164 |
829 |
| Book Chapters |
|
|
|
|
|
| Meyyappan, M., Pelesko, J., Giurgiutiu, V., Lyshevski, S. E., Tansu, N., Arif, R., & Jin, Z. (2016). Materials and nanoscience. In Sensors, Nanoscience, Biomedical Engineering, and Instruments. |
0 |
|
0 |
|
|
| Cirillo, M., Pelesko, J. A., Felton-Koestler, M. D., Rubel, L. (2016). Perspectives on modeling in school mathematics. In: Mathematical Modeling and Modeling Mathematics. Reston, VA: Mathematical modeling and modeling mathematics, 3-16. |
|
|
|
|
34 |
| Pelesko, J. A., Cai, J., & Rossi, L. F. (2013). Modeling Modeling: Developing Habits of Mathematical Minds. In: Educational Interfaces between Mathematics and Industry: Report on an ICMI-ICIAM-Study. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 237-245. |
0 |
|
0 |
|
6 |
| Pelesko, J.A. (2004). Electrostatics in MEMS and NEMS: Physical Phenomena and Applications. In: Micromechanics and Nanoscale Effects. New York: Springer. |
|
|
|
|
3 |
| Refereed Journal Articles |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brubaker, N. D., Siddique, J. I., Sabo, E., Deaton, R., & Pelesko, J. A. (2013). Refinements to the study of electrostatic deflections: Theory and experiment. European Journal of Applied Mathematics, 24(3), 343–370. |
8 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
12 |
| Brubaker, N. D., & Pelesko, J. A. (2012). Analysis of a one-dimensional prescribed mean curvature equation with singular nonlinearity. Nonlinear Analysis, Theory, Methods and Applications, 75(13), 5086–5102. |
26 |
27 |
27 |
26 |
33 |
| Beckham, J. R., & Pelesko, J. A. (2011). An electrostatic-elastic membrane system with an external pressure. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 54(11–12), 2686–2708. |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
| Brubaker, N. D., & Pelesko, J. A. (2011). Non-linear effects on canonical MEMS models. European Journal of Applied Mathematics, 22(5), 455–470. |
31 |
32 |
32 |
25 |
40 |
| Siddique, J. I., Deaton, R., Sabo, E., & Pelesko, J. A. (2011). An experimental investigation of the theory of electrostatic deflections. Journal of Electrostatics, 69(1), 1–6. |
16 |
15 |
16 |
|
23 |
| Marsteller, P., de Pillis, L., Findley, A., Joplin, K., Pelesko, J., Nelson, K., Thompson, K., Usher, D., & Watkins, J. (2010). Toward integration: From quantitative biology to mathbio-biomath? CBE Life Sciences Education, 9 (3), 165–171. |
15 |
9 |
15 |
|
26 |
| Moulton, D. E., & Pelesko, J. A. (2010). Reverse draining of a magnetic soap film. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 81(4). |
17 |
16 |
17 |
|
25 |
| Usher, D. C., Driscoll, T. A., Dhurjati, P., Pelesko, J. A., Rossi, L. F., Schleiniger, G., Pusecker, K., & White, H. B. (2010). A transformative model for undergraduate quantitative biology education. CBE Life Sciences Education, 9(3), 181–188. |
18 |
10 |
18 |
|
29 |
| Moulton, D. E., & Pelesko, J. A. (2009). Catenoid in an electric field. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 70(1), 212–230. |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
| Ai, S., & Pelesko, J. A. (2008). Dynamics of a canonical electrostatic MEMS/NEMS system. Journal of Dynamics and Differential Equations, 20 (3), 609–641. |
19 |
20 |
20 |
2 |
31 |
| Moulton, D. E., & Pelesko, J. A. (2008). Theory and experiment for soap-film bridge in an electric field. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 322(1), 252–262. |
13 |
10 |
13 |
|
19 |
| Moulton, D., & Pelesko, J. A. (2008). Thermal boundary conditions: An asymptotic analysis. Heat and Mass Transfer/Waerme- Und Stoffuebertragung, 44(7), 795–803. |
5 |
3 |
5 |
|
9 |
| Beckham, J. R., & Pelesko, J. A. (2008). Symmetry analysis of a canonical MEMS model. Methods and Applications of Analysis, 15(3), 327-340. |
|
|
|
3 |
4 |
| Braun, R. J., Wilson, R. A., Pelesko, J. A., Buchanan, J. R., & Gleeson, J. P. (2006). Applications of small-world network theory in alcohol epidemiology. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67(4), 591–599. |
13 |
10 |
13 |
|
26 |
| Flores, G., Mercado, G., Pelesko, J. A., & Smyth, N. (2006). Analysis of the dynamics and touchdown in a model of electrostatic MEMS. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 67(2), 434–446. |
63 |
65 |
65 |
52 |
91 |
| Jordan, J. L., Pelesko, J. A., & Thadhani, N. N. (2005). Predictive kinetics-based model for shock-activated reaction synthesis of Ti3SiC2. Journal of Materials Research, 20(6), 1476–1484. |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
| Pelesko, J. A., Cesky, M., & Huertas, S. (2005). Lenz’s law and dimensional analysis. American Journal of Physics, 73(1), 37–39. |
25 |
19 |
25 |
|
31 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Driscoll, T. A. (2005). The effect of the small-aspect-ratio approximation on canonical electrostatic MEMS models. Journal of Engineering Mathematics, 53(3–4), 239–252. |
39 |
38 |
39 |
20 |
49 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Goldsztein, G. (2004). Modeling constrained capacitive systems. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 1(4), 424–428. |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
6 |
| Pelesko, J.A. (2004). Generalizing the Conway-Hofstadler $10,000 sequence. Journal of Integer Sequences, 7(2), 3. |
|
|
|
2 |
4 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Chen, X. Y. (2003). Electrostatic deflections of circular elastic membranes. Journal of Electrostatics, 57(1), 1–12. |
55 |
50 |
55 |
|
78 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2002). Mathematical modeling of electrostatic MEMS with tailored dielectric properties. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 62 (3), 888–908. |
125 |
127 |
127 |
91 |
189 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2001b). Nonlinear stability, thermoelastic contact, and the barber condition. Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME, 68 (1), 28–33. |
8 |
7 |
8 |
5 |
10 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Triolo, A. A. (2001). Nonlocal problems in MEMS device control. Journal of Engineering Mathematics, 41(4), 345–366. |
68 |
69 |
69 |
39 |
115 |
| Quinn, D. D., & Pelesko, J. A. (2001). Generic unfolding of the thermoelastic contact instability. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 39(1), 145–157. |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
3 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Kriegsmann, G. A. (2000). Microwave heating of ceramic composites. IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics (Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications), 64(1), 39–50. |
6 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
8 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (1999). Nonlinear stability considerations in thermoelastic contact. Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME, 66(1), 109–116. |
6 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
10 |
| Guidotti, P., & Pelesko, J. A. (1998). Transient instability in Case II diffusion. Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics, 36(16), 2941–2947. |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
11 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Kriegsmann, G. A. (1997). Microwave heating of ceramic laminates. Journal of Engineering Mathematics, 32(1), 1–18. |
28 |
25 |
28 |
0 |
39 |
| Bukiet, B., Pelesko, J., Li, X. L., & Sachdev, P. L. (1996). A characteristic based numerical method with tracking for nonlinear wave equations. Computers and Mathematics with Applications, 31(7), 75–99. |
4 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
|
| Refereed Conference Proceedings |
|
|
|
|
|
| Cai, J., Cirillo, M.,Pelesko, J. A.,Bommero Ferri, R., Borba, M., Geiger, V., Stillman, G., English, L., Wake, G., Kaiser, G. (2014). Mathematical modeling in school education: Mathematical, cognitive, curricular, instructional and teacher educational perspectives. Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 145-172. |
|
|
|
|
104 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2007b). The science of self assembly. Proceedings of the SEM Annual Conference and Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, 1779-1782. |
0 |
|
0 |
|
|
| Pelesko, J. A. (2005). Self assembly—Promises and challenges. Proceedings - 2005 International Conference on MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, ICMENS 2005 1540869, pp. 427-428 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
1 |
| Vasquez, P. A., & Pelesko, J. A. (2005). A variational approach to microneedle design. Proceedings - 2005 International Conference on MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, ICMENS 2005 1540858, pp. 383-386. |
6 |
4 |
6 |
|
7 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2004). A self-organizing bucket brigade. Proceedings - 2004 International Conference on MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, ICMENS 2004, pp. 212-217. |
5 |
3 |
5 |
|
5 |
| Flores, G., Mercado, G. A., & Pelesko, J. A. (2003a). Dynamics and touchdown in electrostatic MEMS. Proceedings - International Conference on MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, ICMENS 2003 1221990, pp. 182-187. |
34 |
29 |
34 |
|
71 |
| Flores, G., Mercado, G. A., & Pelesko, J. A. (2003b). Dynamics and touchdown in electrostatic MEMS. Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference, 5 C, pp. 1807-1814. |
12 |
|
12 |
|
|
| Pelesko, J. A., Bernstein, D. H., & McCuan, J. (2003a). Symmetry and symmetry breaking in electrostatic MEMS. 2003 Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show - Nanotech 2003 1, pp. 304-307. |
10 |
11 |
11 |
|
31 |
| Pelesko, J. A., Bernstein, D. H., & McCuan, J. (2003b). Symmetry and symmetry breaking in electrostatic MEMS. 2003 Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show - Nanotech 2003 2, pp. 432-435. |
3 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
| Pelesko, J. A., & Goldsztein, G. (2003). Electrostatic deflections of volume constrained MEMS. Proceedings - International Conference on MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, ICMENS 2003 1221968, pp. 76-80. |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
| Zhang, W., Walsh, J., Kiefer, B.,Coffey, M., Fast, P., Lopez, C., Ockendon, J., Onofrei, D., Pelesko, J. A., Please, C., Schwendeman, D., Vernescu, B., & Wang, Z. (2003). Optimal wear for a laying pipe. Nineteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, 2-6. |
|
|
|
|
1 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2001). Electrostatic field approximations and implications for MEMS devices. Proceedings of ESA, 126-137. |
|
|
|
|
12 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (2001a). Multiple solutions in electrostatic MEMS. 2001 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems - MSM 2001 ,pp. 290-293. |
24 |
|
24 |
|
30 |
| Bernstein, D., Guidotti, P., & Pelesko, J. A. (2000). Mathematical analysis of an electrostatically actuated MEMS devices. 2000 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems - MSM 2000, pp. 489-492. |
49 |
38 |
49 |
|
70 |
| Pelesko, J. A., & Triolo, A. A. (2000). Nonlocal problems in MEMS device control. 2000 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems - MSM 2000, pp. 509-512. |
6 |
4 |
6 |
|
|
| Pelesko, J. A., & Kriegsmann, G. A. (1996). Microwave heating of ceramic laminates. Materials Research Society Symposium - Proceedings, 430, pp. 187-192. |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
3 |
| Reports |
|
|
|
|
|
| Driscoll, T.A, & Pelesko, J. A. (2004). Approximations in canonical electrostatic MEMS models. Kluwer Academic Publishers. |
|
|
|
|
2 |
| Pelesko, J. A. (1997). Diffuse and wavelike phenomena in thermal processing of materials. New Jersey Institute of Technology. |
|
|
|
0 |
1 |
| Total: | 900 | 685 | 909 | 447 | 2378 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appendix B: White Paper on Citation Analysis for Promotion and Tenure
NJIT Librarians Revised May 2025
In support of a faculty member’s dossier for tenure and/or promotion, the Office of the Provost requests a report from the librarians on the impact of the publication record, as evidenced by a citation analysis. The subject liaison librarian will share the completed citation analysis report with the candidate for their inspection before submitting the document to the provost’s office.
After this, the librarian will submit the completed report to the provost’s office and copy the candidate.
Scopus and Web of Science are the two most prominent index, abstract, and citation analysis databases in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and medicine, with
additional but less extensive coverage of social sciences, arts, and humanities. In disciplines that are not well covered by these tools, supplementary sources may be needed to provide a snapshot of the scholar’s impact.
Candidates are encouraged to obtain an ORCID and to consult with the librarians several months in advance of candidacy for help with their publication and documentation strategy in preparation for review. Furthermore, it is in the candidate’s best interest to evaluate and revise their Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar author profiles several months in advance of the promotion and tenure process: articles are often missing or mis-attributed in Scopus and Web of Science, and it can take these databases 4-6 weeks to update articles and profiles.
NJIT Librarians use Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar
Scopus and Web of Science often provide different citation counts because they draw from different publication lists. For this reason, citation counts from both are provided. The h-index is manually calculated from citation counts provided on the report rather than using the h-index automatically generated by Scopus and Web of Science, as the auto-generated reports often miss publications or include incorrectly attributed publications.
Google Scholar uses different methods to provide citation counts for publications. Therefore, citation counts and the h-index provided by Google Scholar are not considered as a direct comparison to the Scopus and Web of Science h-indexes.
Humanities, History, and HCAD Disciplines
The nature of research in the humanities, art, and design disciplines is different from that in science and technology in a number of fundamental ways, and they are not well served by the popular citation-based instruments, both traditional and alternative. Gervits (2016) suggests there is a need to create a comprehensive model for research assessment in art, architecture, and design, a model that takes into consideration multiple research outputs and various measures of impact.
Date of Report
Under normal circumstances, if a report has been done within 45 days, a new report will not be created, because the degree of change within this time period is usually minimal. The report is dated and represents the scholar’s impact as of that date.
Summary of Tools with Citation Search Features Primary Tools
Scopus is a comprehensive abstract and citation database from Elsevier. It covers
peer-reviewed literature in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. It offers tools for tracking research trends, author impact, and institutional performance. See Scopus’s content policy and selection for details and the Scopus source list for the titles indexed in the platform.
Web of Science (Core Collection) is a citation database from Clarivate. It covers leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities disciplines. See Web of Science’s Editorial Selection Process for details and the list of journals indexed by Web of Science.
Google Scholar is a free search engine that uses Google’s web-crawling methods to index full-text and metadata of nearly all scholarly literature regardless of quality. Types of sources
indexed include peer-reviewed journals and books, conference papers, abstracts, preprints, and other scholarly literature, but Google Scholar sources and citation counts have not gone through the quality control provided by Scopus and Web of Science.
Comparing Primary Citation Analysis Tools
In a literature review (Moed et al., 2016), scholars found that Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science each have particular coverage strengths in areas such as science and medicine.
Still, all showed significant weaknesses in covering social sciences and humanities sources, and demonstrated an English-language bias. Refer also to Sember, et al. (2010) for a comparison, Gervits (2016), and Gervits (2024) on non-STEM citation analysis in the Bibliography at the end of this paper.
The Research Guide for Faculty on Citation Analysis and the HCAD Guide on Citation Analysis provide additional information on these resources.
Some Additional Citation Analysis Tools
Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers in astronomy and physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant.
SciFinder-n is a research discovery tool that allows access to a wide variety of research disciplines, focused in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, materials sciences, physics, environmental science, and other chemistry-adjacent fields.
Selected References and Further Reading
Dadkhah, M., Lagzian, M., & Borchardt, G. (2017). Questionable papers in citation databases as an issue for literature review. Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling, 11(2), 181-185. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12079-016-0370-6
Dingemanse, M. (2016, June 27). Some things you need to know about Google Scholar [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://ideophone.org/some-things-you-need-to-know-about-google-scholar/
Garfield, E. (1983) How to use citation analysis for faculty evaluations and when is it relevant? Part 1. Essays of an Information Scientist. 6(45):354-362. https://garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v6p354y1983.pdf
Garfield, E. (1983) How to use citation analysis for faculty evaluations and when is it relevant? Part 2. Essays of an Information Scientist. 6(45): 363-372. https://garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v6p363y1983.pdf
Clarivate (n.d.). Essays: A collection of essays and articles that provide in-depth explanatory information for uses of our citation databases and other information tools. https://clarivate.com/academia-government/essays/
Gervits, M. (2024, May 9). Enhancing Assessment of the Impact of Scholarly Work in Design Disciplines. Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
https://www.acsa-arch.org/aasl-may-2024-column/
Gervits, H.M., & Orcutt, R. (2016). Citation analysis and tenure metrics in art, architecture, and design-related disciplines. Art Documentation. 35(2):218-229.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/688724
Martín-Martín, A., Orduna-Malea, E., Thelwall, M., & Delgado López-Cózar, E. (2018). Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus: A systematic comparison of citations in 252 subject categories. Journal of Informetrics, 12(4): 1160–1177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2018.09.002
Moed, H., & Bar-Ilan, J. (2017). Review: Suitability of Google Scholar as a source of scientific information and as a source of data for scientific evaluation—Review of the Literature. Journal of Informetrics, 11(3): 11823-834.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157717300676
Moed, H. F., Bar-Ilan, J., & Halevi, G. (2016). A new methodology for comparing Google Scholar and Scopus. Journal of Informetrics, 10(2):10533-551.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157715302285
Sember, M., Utrobicic, A., & Petrak, J. (2010). Croatian Medical Journal Citation Score in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Croatian Medical Journal, 51(2), 99-103. https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/81569