The scientometric evaluation of the institutional research: The Ege universities- part 3

Abstract

The scientometric analysis of the research has become one of the most used methods to assess the research performance of the scholars, departments, faculties, universities, countries, and journals at a global scale in recent years. However, there has not been an extensive scientometric evaluation of the institutional research carried out by the universities in the Ege (Aegean) Region of Turkey, to examine the development of the research over time. Hence, the purpose of this study was to carry out a scientometric evaluation of the research performed by these universities using three indices in a series of three papers. In the final part of these serial papers, it was found that the most prolific collaborating country was the US whilst Erciyes University and Hacettepe University were the most prolific collaborating domestic institutions. 96% of these papers were written in English, followed by the low-impact Turkish papers. The research output spectacularly increased over time starting with four papers in 1973 and reaching a peak with 3,264 papers in 2011. The research output rose exponentially between 1991 and 2011 with a spectacular rise after 2000. It was hypothesized that the key driver for the research output growth was the huge higher education spending in the first place. Indeed, the numbers of the academic force increased by 208% in recent years. The share of the foundation universities was small with 5.3% of the regional academic force. "Journal of Hazardous Materials" in the subject categories of Engineering and Environmental Sciences & Ecology was the most publishing journal, whilst the subject category with the highest degree of citation impact was Chemistry followed by Engineering. The Natural and Applied Sciences as well as the top universities dominated both the most prolific journals and most prolific subject categories lists in contrast to Social Sciences and Humanities & Arts. The research productivity of the Medical Faculties was behind the Faculties of Engineering and Natural Sciences. A paper on the medical treatment patients with renal-cell carcinoma in the subject category of the General & Internal Medicine was the most cited paper whilst a paper on the development of classification criteria for axial spondyloarthritis in the subject category of Rheumatology was the hottest paper. The results of the final part in the serial papers suggest that there was a close structure-research performance relationships for these universities hinting the strong effect of the formal and informal rules adapted by these universities on their respective research productivity. Further research areas were highlighted.