Information services provider Thomson Reuters, US, has announced the results of a worldwide survey of opinion leaders at key research institutions. The survey report, New Outlooks on Institutional Profiles (http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/Global_Opinion_Survey.pdf), captures opinions from the global academic community on the most relevant indicators of organisational competence and quality, as well as which indicators they consider important and what they think is wrong with previous methods.
Survey respondents felt that the current analytic comparison systems had recognisable utility. About 40 percent globally said they were ‘extremely/very useful’ and a further 45 percent said they were ‘somewhat useful’. The data indicators and methodology currently utilised were perceived unfavourably by many and there was widespread concern about data quality in North America and Europe. The report states that 74 percent of respondents believe that institutions manipulate their data to move up in rankings. It further noted that current analyses tend to favour English speaking nations. While English remains the international language for academic discourse its pervasiveness may obscure the changing geography of academic activity.
The New Outlooks on Institutional Profiles report includes data from 350 respondents. The results will inform the methodology around the Global Institutional Profiles Project, Thomson Reuters’ new initiative to build a comprehensive database that combines peer review, scholarly outputs, citation patterns, funding levels, and faculty characteristics.
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