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Measuring the Impact of National Institute of Standards and Technology Research Publications
Published
Author(s)
Susan L. Makar, Amanda J. Malanowski
Abstract
The Information Services Office (ISO) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently conducted a study to assess the publishing impacts of NIST researchers. This request from NIST senior management focused on the number of NIST authored papers appearing in top tier journals. The first challenge of this request was to find an objective way of determining the top tier journals in NISTs fields of research. Anyone working in the fields of science and technology recognizes key titles such as Nature and Science as top tier journals. Even in specific science fields it is easy to spot top physics journals as including Physical Review Letters and Reviews of Modern Physics. Likewise, in chemistry the Journal of the American Chemistry Society and Analytical Chemistry are considered very prestigious chemistry journals. But this casual assessment is very subjective and does not readily account for reputable journals in other more specific fields of scientific research. For the purposes of this study, a top tier journal is defined as any journal with a Thomson Reuters Impact Factor (IF) that falls within the top 10 percentile in its Web of Science Subject Category. This poster will illustrate ISOs methodologies and results in using Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports to help NIST senior management measure the impact of NISTs research through an assessment of NISTs publishing record in top tier journals.
Makar, S.
and Malanowski, A.
(2012),
Measuring the Impact of National Institute of Standards and Technology Research Publications, SLA 2013 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO, Chicago, IL, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=911727
(Accessed October 14, 2025)