14 July 2020
Elsevier has announced that it is endorsing the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics, ten principles that guide best practice in metrics-based research assessment.
The Leiden Manifesto is a set of practical and action-oriented recommendations for those engaged in the evaluation of research, whether in the role of evaluator, those being evaluated, or those responsible for designing and delivering research metrics and indicators. Elsevier, working through its recently-launched International Center for the Study of Research (ICSR), will now strive to develop its research evaluation tools and services aligned with the recommendations of the Leiden Manifesto.
“The Leiden Manifesto is a distillation of best practice in research assessment. Abiding by these ten principles means that research evaluation can play an important role in the development of research and its interactions with society. I look forward to seeing Elsevier use the principles across its business,” said Professor Diana Hicks, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, lead author on the 2015 Leiden Manifesto, and ICSR Advisory Board member.
2019 CiteScore™ Metrics were announced on June 23, 2020, the latest assessment of thousands of peer-reviewed research journals, book series, conference proceedings and trade publications covered in Scopus. In addition, an improved calculation methodology was introduced to provide a more robust, fair and faster indicator of research impact. CiteScore Metrics already align with Leiden Manifesto Principles by being clear (Principle 4 – methodology is simple and easy to understand); transparent (Principle 5 – the data are freely available for verification purposes); and offered as a suite of indicators (Principle 9 – the CiteScore Metrics suite, offered alongside two other journal citation metrics). The revision of the calculation methodology embodies Principle 10 (scrutinize indicators regularly and update them) and in the improved approach CiteScore values are now rounded to one decimal place to avoid false precision (Principle 8).
ICSR President Dr. Andrew Plume added, “Elsevier has supported a similar set of principles to the Leiden Manifesto for many years. Taking this formal step means that our customers and the broader research community have clarity on how we will deliver improved research evaluation tools and indicators. I’m delighted we now have the opportunity to learn from everyone connected to the Leiden Manifesto, and to bring these principles to an even wider audience.”