The current Impacts Project Database (IPD) covers 120 UK academics. The database includes academics from the following key social science disciplines: Economics, Geography, International Relations, Law, and Sociology.
Selection Process:
Five institutions per discipline were randomly selected out of a complete list of UK Higher Education Units. Then twenty academics per discipline were randomly selected. Finally, four academics from the LSE were randomly selected for each discipline.
The distribution is as follows:
- Economics: 24 academics
- Geography: 24 academics
- International Relations: 4 academics
- Political Science: 20 academics
- Law: 24 academics
- Sociology: 24 academics
The reason why international relations was separated from political science is that in some universities this is taken as a separate discipline and not as an orientation of political science (for example in the LSE). However, for the purposes of our analysis we consider both under the category of political science.
Distribution of academics by discipline and position:
The selection process led to the following distribution of academics across disciplines:
| POSITION | Economics | Geography | Political Science | Law | Sociology | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Lecturer | 9 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 44 |
| Senior Lecturer | 5 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 35 |
| Professor | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 36 |
| Not Specified | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 120 |
Database Lay-out
The database consists of three main databases hosted in Microsoft Excel (which will gradually be moved to Microsoft Access). The three main databases have one common section with the ID, Name, Surname, Position and Affiliation of the academic. They then have three specific sections:
1. Google Scholar: this database collects information from Google Scholar on the number of outputs and citations received by academics.
Google Scholar database description:
| VARIABLE | DESCRIPTION | CATEGORIES |
|---|---|---|
| OUTPUT NAME | Describes the name of the academic output | Text |
| YEAR | Year of publication of the academic output | Number |
| NUMBER OF COAUTHORS | The number of co-authors (if any) of the academic output | Number |
| OUTPUT TYPE | The type of output produced by the academic | -Book (academic is author) -Book (academic is editor) -Book (academic is chapter author) -Academic journal article -Research Report (for commissioning body) -Research Report (independent academic) -Discussion or commentary article -Working paper -Conference Presentation -"Citation" -Other -Not Available |
| SOURCE TYPE | Describes the nature of the site where the output is located | -Internal Website (belonging to the academic's institution) -Outward Facing |
| SOURCE NAME | Name of the source | Text |
| COMMISSIONING BODY | Type of commissioning body (only for research reports) | -UK Central Government -UK Local Government -Government International -Third Sector or Society -Think Tank -University UK -University International -International Organisation -Private Sector -Other -Not Available |
| NUMBER OF CITES | Number of citations received by the output | Number |
2. Google Scholar Inward: this database collects information on the number of references made to an academic by other academics. The information was collected through Google Scholar but introducing the name of the academic with a “-” sign in order to avoid self-reference to her/himself.
Google Scholar Inward database description:
| VARIABLE | DESCRIPTION | CATEGORIES |
|---|---|---|
| YEAR OF OUTPUT | Year of publication of the output that cites the academic | Number |
| GEOGRAPHICAL AREA OF CITATION | Geographical area of the output that cites the academic | -UK -North America -Europe -Middle East • Asia • Latin America • Oceania • Other • Not Available |
| FORMAT OF HIT | The type of the output that cites the academic | -Book -Book Chapter -Academic Journal Article -Research Report -Discussion article, comment or book review -Working Paper -Conference Paper or Presentation -“Citation” -Other -Not Available |
3. Full Google: this database collects information about references to the academic from Google. The objective is to track what sectors and type of sources cite the academics themselves or their work
Full Google database description:
| VARIABLE | DESCRIPTION | CATEGORIES |
|---|---|---|
| DOMAIN | Domain of the website where the academic is cited | Text |
| SUFFIX | Suffix of the website where the academic is cited | Text |
| SECTOR | Sector of the organisation citing the academic | -Media and News -Public Sector -Publisher -UK Central -UK Local Government -Government International -Third Sector or Society -Think Tank -International Organisation -University UK -University International -Library -Academic Resource Site -Individual website -Group website -Other |
| PAGE CONTENT | Type of output citing the academic | -Academic article -Research Report -Review or comment -News or press article -Bibliographic information listing academic work -Biographic information listing academic -Conference participation -Membership related information on posts held or membership of committees -Reading list or syllabus -Personal website -Blog -Other |
| BY/ABOUT | Is the output citing the academic written by the academic her/himself or about her/himself | Text |
| SINGLE / MULTIPLE AUTHORS | Is the citing piece a single or multiple authored one | Dummy |
| TYPE OF REFERENCE | Type of reference to the academic | -Personal Mention -General body of work -Specific Project/Team -Book (academic is author) -Book (academic is editor) -Book (academic is chapter author) -Academic article -Research report (commissioning body) -Research report (academic independent) -Discussion or commentary -Working paper -Conference paper or presentation -Other |
| CLICK FROM ARTICLE | Is it possible to access the academic’s referred piece in two or fewer clicks? | Dummy: Yes / No |
| NEGATIVE REFERENCE | Is the citation negative or positive? | Dummy: Yes / No |
