SOME INDICATORS FOR ASSESSING RESEARCH PERFORMANCE WITHOUT CITATIONS

The study aim at designing a set of indicators which, integrated altogether, should be able to inform on the kind of research published in journal articles and its proximity to their specific forefronts. The set of indicators is composed of two subsets, one including information of the authors, ''research performers indicators'', and other embodying information of the references used, ''source indicators''. The source indicators are compared with the references pattern of specific paradigmatic journals used as standard framework of the research field. Three case studies dealing with the Spanish research on Immunology, Neurosciences and Pharmacognosy will be presented. The application of the indicators gave the following results: Spanish Immunology published in foreign journals was basic in its scope while the one published in domestic journals dealt with applied and clinical Medicine. Neuroscience published in foreign journals by financed Hospitals appertained to the forefront and presented a broad scope, Neuroscience published in foreign journals by non-financed Hospitals was applied research and Neuroscience published by Universities, also in foreign journals, represented basic research done in a closed system. The case of Spanish Pharmacognosy is more difficult to interpret as three subject fields are involved (Pharmacology, Chemistry and Botany). The indicators did not clearly differentiate between the research published in domestic and foreign journals, although it seems that Spanish scientists arc more interested in the pharmacological and botanical aspect of the natural products than in their chemical structure.