De Profundis: A Decade of Bibliometric Services Under Scrutiny

Abstract

Giving kudos to bibliometric legend Henk Moed is most appropriately achieved by putting his evaluative concepts and approaches into action. The Department for Bibliometrics and Publication Strategies at the University of Vienna can meanwhile draw on rich experience with research evaluation tasks. These activities can certainly be perceived as repercussions of Henk Moed’s work. This is particularly true for his most recent book, Applied Evaluative Informetrics, which strongly supports the deliberate and correct use of bibliometric practices for evaluation purposes. In this paper, we present and discuss the lessons learned after having provided bibliometric services at the University of Vienna for more than a decade. Based on the comparison of our own insights with current practices, declarations and manifestos, we come up with new recommendations and guidelines. This also includes a discussion to what degree alternative metrics are either helpful for research assessment or rather pose a danger to the overall development of research practices. Last but not least we emphasize that bibliometric services should not exclusively be reduced to evaluative tasks. They should rather benefit (particularly young) researchers improving their publication strategies and enhancing their visibility within the research community and beyond. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.