COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF A SET OF BIBLIOMETRIC INDICATORS AND CENTRAL PEER-REVIEW CRITERIA - EVALUATION OF CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS IN THE NETHERLANDS

In this paper first results are presented of a study on the correlatio n between bibliometric indicators and the outcomes of peer judgements made by expert committees of physics in the Netherlands. As a first st ep to study these outcomes in more detail, we focus on the results of an evaluation of 56 research programmes in condensed matter physics in the Netherlands, a subfield which accounts for roughly one third of t he total of Dutch physics. This set of research programmes is represen ted by a volume of mon than 5000 publications and nearly 50,000 citati ons. The study shows varying correlations between different bibliometr ic indicators and the outcomes of a peer evaluation procedure. Also a breakdown of correlations to the level of different peer review criter ia has been made. We found that the peer review criterium 'team' shows generally the strongest correlation with bibliometric indicators. Cor relations prove to be higher for groups which are involved in basic sc ience than for groups which an more application oriented. (C) 1998 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.