Use of numerical taxonomy and journal impact factors in the evaluation of chemical engineering academics’ publications

Abstract

The paper describes the results of the application of numerical taxonomy and specifically a taxonomic similarity measure (the Gower similarity coefficient) to compare the publication output of a number of senior academics in chemical engineering in both UK and US universities. The measure takes account of both the numbers of articles published, and the impact factors of the journals in which they were published. Using this coefficient, it was found that most of the academics are not similar to the ‘ideal’ chemical engineering researcher, as defined by ISI’s Journal Citation Reports, but some academics, and some departments, are closer to the ideal than others.