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Field-Weighted Citation Impact

Field-Weighted Citation Impact takes into account the differences in research behavior across disciplines. 

Sourced from SciVal, this metric indicates how the number of citations received by a researchers publications compares with the average number of citations received by all other similar publications indexed in the Scopus database.

  • A Field-Weighted Citation Impact of 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited at world average for similar publications. 
  • A Field-Weighted Citation Impact of greater than 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited more than would be expected based on the world average for similar publications, for example a score of 1.44 means that the outputs have been cited 44% more times than expected.
  • A Field-Weighted Citation Impact of less than 1.00 indicates that the publications have been cited less that would be expected based on the world average for similar publications, for example a score of 0.85 means 15% less cited than world average.

Similar publications are those publications in the Scopus database that have the same publication year, publication type and discipline.

Field-Weighted Citation Impact refers to citations received in the year of publication plus the following 3 years.

Field-Weighted Citation Impact metrics are useful to benchmark regardless of differences in size, disciplinary profile, age and publication type composition, and provide and useful way to evaluate the prestige of a researcher’s citation performance.    

The most common tools for calculating Field-Weighted Citation Impact are...

Calculating the Field-Weighted Citation Impact in SciVal

Connect to SciVal (if you haven't already, you will need to set up an account with an email and password).

The Field-Weighted Citation Impact in SciVal is displayed here:

Field weighted citation impact in SciVal

  1. Click on the Overview module
  2. Click on Researchers and Groups
    Define a new researcher in SciVal
  3. If not done so already, add yourself as a researcher by Defining a New Researcher
  4. Click the radio button next to your name
  5. Select the date range and/or subject area
    Date and subject in SciVal
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