Research productivity, quality, and impact metrics of Australian psychology academics

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> This project aimed to provide normative data from SciVal on the research outputs of Australian psychology academics. Normative data are presented by academic level, university network, and estimated career stage. Additional analyses identify which SciVal metrics (measured over a short time window) predict lifetime performance indicators.<br/><b>Method:</b> Data from 749 psychology academics across 24 universities belonging to the various Australian university networks were extracted from Scopus and SciVal (a tool including metrics of recent research quantity, quality, and impact). Metrics included number of outputs and citations, citations per output, Field Weighted Citation Impact, percentage of outputs in the top 10% by citations or journal rank, and percentage of outputs with international or corporate collaborators.<br/><b>Results:</b> Metrics related to quantity of outputs and citations increased with academic level and career stage. For other SciVal metrics, academics at the more senior levels (D and/or E) often outperformed Level B academics. Academics at Group of Eight universities tended to outperform academics affiliated with other networks by overall outputs and citations. These differences were less consistent for other SciVal metrics. A range of SciVal metrics predicted lifetime metrics.<br/><b>Conclusion:</b> These data provide up-to-date norms to facilitate evaluation of Australian psychology academics using SciVal.