SHOULD THERE BE A MORATORIUM ON ARTICLES THAT RANK SCHOOLS OF SOCIAL WORK BASED ON FACULTY PUBLICATIONS? YES!

This article analyzes if there should be a moratorium on articles that rank schools of social work based on faculty publications. There should definitely be a moratorium on publications that rank schools of social work on the basis of faculty publication or citation counts. Moreover, no further work...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Social Work Education Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 240 - 246
Autor principal: Kreuger, Larry W.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Fall93
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This article analyzes if there should be a moratorium on articles that rank schools of social work based on faculty publications. There should definitely be a moratorium on publications that rank schools of social work on the basis of faculty publication or citation counts. Moreover, no further work should be credited in the literature. It is disturbing to note the increasing number of articles that detail some newly constructed comparison of schools of social work based solely on these criteria. It is disturbing because such work is more typical of "pop social science" than of serious inquiry in the human services. This Counterpoint summarizes the conceptual and methodological problems in so-called scientometric and other studies that have been used to rank schools of social work. I argue that the conceptual and methodological shortcomings in these studies overwhelmingly point to a moratorium on any further publication in this area. Further, nothing prevents investigators from counting their own past publications on ranking schools of social work in this round, undoubtedly noting that their current efforts will provide seed or another harvest of citations to be reaped by themselves in the next round.