Citation distributions and research evaluations: The impossibility of formulating a universal indicator

Abstract

To analyze the diversity of citation distributions to publications in different research topics to investigate the accuracy of size-independent, rank-based indicators. The top percentile-based indicators are the most common indicators of this type, and the evaluations of Japan are the most evident misjudgments.

Keywords

• scientometrics
• research assessment
• research indicators
• citation distribution
• rank analysis