Agricultural Science Indicators

BoF Chairs - Ilkay Holt, Hugo Besemer

The proposal to form a discussion group is a result of a special panel on Metrics and Agricultural Science Measuring Multidisciplinary and Applied Research in STI 2016 (21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicator) Conference which took place in Valencia on 16th September. The panel was organized by FAO of United Nations , INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) and Wageningen University & Research. Discussion points were:

1. Agricultural science is being a multidisciplinary area, an applied science and where local practises plays a crucial role.

2. Many findings in agricultural science are communicated in other channels than peer reviewed journals, like reports or statistical databases. Such publications are not covered in the major databases used for bibliometric analyses.

3. Developing countries contributes in agricultural sciences significantly but they are under-represented in globally used bibliometric databases.

4. Altmetrics offer relevant measures for the societal impact of agricultural research.

Following this discussion in STI 2016, it was proposed to have a discussion group on metrics and indicators in agricultural sciences in IGAD (Interest Group in Agricultural Data) Pre-meeting in Barcelona, prior to the Research Data Alliance Ninth Meeting (RDA 9P) between 3-4 April 2017. Please find the notes from the group discussion here.

This group became a BoF group on 26th April 2017 with the aim to continue the discussion and prepare a white paper on responsible use of indicators in agricultural sciences. The group is also provided with a mailing list at  metrics-indicators-agriculture@rda-groups.org. We invite all interested members to join and subscribe to the group mailinglist by clicking the "Join group" button on the right hand side.