Assessing research network and disciplinary engagement changes induced by an NSF program

Title: Assessing research network and disciplinary engagement changes induced by an NSF program
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: June 2012
Published In: Research Evaluation
Description: To assess the success of the National Science Foundation's Research Coordination Network (RCN) program, a set of publication measures and visualization tools were used to determine how effective the program is in enhancing interdisciplinary publication and information sharing. The publication patterns of a set of researchers were compared before and after receiving RCN awards. These analyses show significant increases in basic collaboration measures-authors per paper and institutions per paper-following RCN support. Various indications suggest increased linkage among the RCN researchers in terms of extent of co-authoring and of cross-citing each other's work. RCN support appears to foster more interdisciplinary research. Diffusion scores (a new metric) showed that the diversity of articles citing RCN-related articles was similar to those citing control group research. Finally, the articles generated by the project activities showed as especially influential; they appear in high impact journals and are more highly cited. © 2012 The Author.
Ivan Allen College Contributors:
Citation: Research Evaluation. 21. Issue 2. 89 - 104. ISSN 0958-2029. DOI 10.1093/reseval/rvs004.
Related Departments:
  • School of Public Policy