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Research Impact Metrics

Provides an overview of Research Impact Metrics

Field Weighted Citation Impact & Category Normalized Citation Impact

Sample Statement:

"For the years 2019 to 2024 my FWCI in FoR 4001 is 1.35, which means my published outputs received a 35% higher rate of citations compared to the world average in Aerospace Engineering."

What is Field-Weighted or Category Normalized Citation Impact:

Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI - found in SciVal), or Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI - found in Incites), is useful for benchmarking regardless of differences in publication numbers, disciplines, and age. FWCI and CNCI are calculated in three ways:

  • for individual publication
  • for the overall publications of a researcher/ researcher group
  • for the publications of a researcher/ researcher group on a specific subject area (by FoR code) or by topic

FWCI/CNCI takes into account the differences in research behaviour across disciplines and indicates how the number of citations received by a researcher's publications compares with the average number of citations received by all other similar publications.

  • A FWCI/ CNCI of 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited at world average for similar publications. Similar publications are those with the same publication year, publication type, and discipline.
  • A FWCI/ CNCI of greater than 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited more than would be expected based on the world average for similar publications, for example a score of 1.44 means that the outputs have been cited 44% more times than expected.
  • A FWCI/ CNCI of less than 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited less that would be expected based on the world average for similar publications. For example a score of 0.85 means 15% less cited than the world average.

To find Field Weighted Citation Impact, go to SciVal

  1. Go to Explore, click Entity list Entity List select a researcher from Researchers and GroupsResearchers & Groups
  2. If researcher not in list, select Create/Import, and then Define a new Researcher and follow the prompts.
  3. Select the required year range and Apply.
  4. Select Citation Metrics from Bibliometrics list and scroll down to the Field-Weighted Citation Impact.

To find Category Normalized Citation Impact, go to Incites

  1. Go to Analyze and then Researchers.
  2. Type the researcher surname into the search box or unique ID (e.g. ORCID), then select from the list.
  3. Change the date range as require. For example, choose a custom range starting from your first year of publishing.
  4. Category Normalized Citation Impact is listed in the table for the researcher.
  5. If your publications are not in the table, go to Indicators and manually add the required ones.

 

  • Multi-Disciplinary Challenges: FWCI and CNCI may not accurately reflect the impact of research spanning multiple disciplines.
  • Outlier Influence: The metric can be skewed by publications with unusually high citations.
  • Small Sets: these measures are less reliable for small sets of publications. Author's FWCI and CNCI is not recommended for researchers who have published a small number of papers.