Benchmarking research performance

Reports on my presentation at the EFMD Research Leadership Programme

In December 2016 I presented at the EFMD Research Leadership Programme for an audience of Research Deans from the UK, France, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden.

  • Harzing, A.W. (2016) Benchmarking research performance, presented at the EFMD Research Leadership Programme, EFMD, Brussels, 7 December 2016. Available online...

My presentation on benchmarking first looked at how benchmarking can be used to create legitimacy in the Research Dean's role by providing a frame of reference. I then outlined the five key choices to be made in a benchmarking exercise.

  1. What to benchmark? Publications, citations, societal impact, research funding, students
  2. Which measures to use? Journal rankings, ISI JIF, h-index & variants, total cites
  3. Which data source to use? Thomson ISI, Scopus, Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic
  4. At what level to benchmark? Individuals, Departments, Faculty/School, University
  5. Who to benchmark against? Similar entities, aspirational benchmarks?