Testing Reviewer Suggestions Derived from Bibliometric Specialty Approximations in Real Research Evaluations

Abstract: Many contemporary research funding instruments and research policies aim for excellence at the level of individual scientists, teams or research programmes. Good bibliometric approximations of related specialties could be useful for instance to help assign reviewers to applications. This paper reports findings on the usability of reviewer suggestions derived from a recently developed specialty approximation method combining key sources, title words, authors and references (Rons, 2018). Reviewer suggestions for applications for Senior Research Fellowships were made available to the evaluation coordinators. Those who were invited to review an application showed a normal acceptance rate, and responses from experts and coordinators contained no indications of mismatched scientific focus. The results confirm earlier indications that this specialty approximation method can successfully support tasks in research management.