LibrarySkills@UCL: Evaluating information

In this section we look at some methods for evaluating research outputs, that may be of interest to researchers.

Bibliometrics is concerned with the analysis of research based on citation counts and patterns. The individual measures used are also commonly referred to as bibliometrics, or citation metrics. You can find general information on bibliometrics on the UCL Libraries bibliometrics pages.

The library offers two bibliometrics courses which are being put online. At the moment, slides and question sheets are available; video walkthroughs for the tools will be made available when possible.

Please contact bibliometrics@ucl.ac.uk if you have questions about these, or would like to book an appointment to work through some of the tool demonstrations by videoconference.

Once you have identified information for your research, you should appraise it for its validity, currency and applicability.  This is particularly important in the health sciences where poorly conducted research may potentially have a negative impact on patient outcomes. It is also an important skill to utilise in research, to ensure your research is based only on the highest quality studies.