Since I wrote that "memorable" citations chase article (see HERE for the full version and HERE for the abridged version that appeared in OR/MS Today), I found myself (much to my amusement and surprise) in two other databases, assembled by the same team of researchers at Stanford. The whole thing is Scopus based, which is Elsevier's citations engine. The 2 databases are:
1) The so-called Greek scientists database (63,951 people with 5 or more citations), see HERE, in which I found myself in the No. 93 position, and in the No. 2 position in my primary subfield (logistics and transportation) - among Greeks, that is. The database lists citation statistics until 2019. I found quite surprising that I am listed above (of all people) Christopher Pissarides, the 2010 Nobel Prize recipient in economics, who is in the No. 302 position in that database. I think this is due to the way scientists in that database are ranked. As I understand it, they are ranked by their global rank within their primary subfield. So for 2019, globally it seems that I was No. 45 among logistics and transportation scholars, and Pissarides was No. 161 among economists- and No. 2 among Greek economists. These stats are on a career basis. Again, and as my prior citations chase article argues, it is futile to compare people across scientific disciplines.
2) The 2021 edition of the global database (data up to 2020), see HERE, in which I found myself in the No. 42,781 position on a career basis and in the No. 13,781 position on a single year basis (see the paper and the tables for what the distinction is). Within my primary subfield (again, logistics and transportation), I am No. 39 on a career basis and No. 33 on a single year basis. Note that No. 39 was also my ranking two years earlier, see my previous blog.
What do these numbers mean? Not much, I am sure, as I am more and more convinced that this whole thing is a BIG perversion. Note that for 2020, the number of people with 5 or more citations rose to 8,547,891 (up from 6,880,389 two years ago, that is, an increase of 24%). Of these, 23,751 people had logistics and transportation as their primary subfield (this is up from 15,386 two years earlier). Of the 23,751, the number within the top 100,000 in 2020 is 124, up from 84 two years ago.
I do not know what to make of these numbers, however being No. 39 within 23,751 people means that on a career basis, and as things stand, I am within the top 0,16% of my primary subfield.
This, and all of the above, is in my opinion quite a (pleasant) surprise, particularly since I never aimed at achieving any such goals in my career, other goals being much more important. However, in terms of citations, ranks, etc, I really wonder what else I should aim for, particularly now that my academic career is being phased out (any year now). Clearly it makes no sense to try to reduce the 0.16% to 0.1% or to 0.01%. I would be happy with 1% or even 2%!
Also, I admit I really have no control on who (if anybody) reads my papers, and I never had any wish to approach, even remotely, these illustrious folks who are much higher up in these citations databases than myself. I am sure they are doing something way better than I possibly can.
As I said in my previous article, we can live without bibliometrics.
PS A couple of days after I wrote the above, I received the 25-year anniversary issue of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, see HERE. This is yet another bibliometric paper. Even though no paper of mine is cited in this paper, I am in there somewhere:
