1031analysis. The response to a single mailing of a questionnaire to participants (over 80%) was good: almost all participants expressed the view that participation had been valuable, had provided new information or ideas, or both, and had provided an opportunity to establish valuable new scientific contacts. The response to those questions requiring more objective replies was also encouraging. The 150/o-that is, at the same level as many of the better quality specialist journals. The peak time for an article to be cited in journals, however, occurs two years after publication, whereas for the foundation's publications this figure is five years and the period of frequent citation is much longer than for journals. Direct comparison of peak rates of citation improves the ranking of the foundation's publications by more than 200 places and puts them well within the top 10% of all scientific publications. This high position has been achieved despite several factors that would tend to limit the number of citations, including the fact that not all papers contain new data, techniques are rarely described in detail (these publications commonly attract the highest citation rates), and the policy of some journals excludes references to symposium volumes. The other observation worthy of comment is the impact factor of 0 596 in the year of publication (the immediacy index), which would place the foundation's volumes 276th out of more than 4000 publications. This is a strikingly high figure considering that journals are distributed on publication to subscribers whereas books have to be promoted and sold and thus take rather longer to reach their readers. These observations indicate that symposium volumes are cited early, often, and over a substantial period.These data clearly show that small, carefully organised multidisciplinary meetings can make a positive contribution to scientific research and that they are of value to the participants and the scientific community at large. Performance evaluation of the processes of science is difficult and controversial. Nevertheless, both the outcome and the processes of research, including evaluation of scientific meetings, can be assessed systematically, as we have shown. It is essential that the scientific community should be prepared to take on the responsibility of measuring research performance to justify the continuing commitment of public and private funds to research. An outbreak of scabies occurred in a community hospital serving a population of about 20 000 in South Devon. The inpatient accommodation was separate men's and women's wards each with seven beds on the ground floor and eight further beds on the first floor. The hospital had outpatient facilities and an operating theatre. Staff were drawn from a wide geographical area and at the time of the outbreak there were 17 nurses, 13 nursing auxiliaries, and 13 other employees.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.