Tracking the Literature
and Recognition of NORA
Bibliometrics
Bibliometrics is among the approaches used to evaluate the impact of NORA. Bibliometrics is a semi-quantitative method to examine publication rates to determine publication trends and research productivity.
To document research productivity in the 21 priority areas, NIOSH and the 20 NORA teams, in collaboration with the Institute for Scientific Information - the world's largest bibliographical source of information covering more than 16,000 international peer-reviewed journals, books and proceedings in the sciences and social sciences- developed a method for generating baseline bibliographical databases for each of the 21 NORA topic areas. The baseline publication rates were computed for the period from 1991 through 1996 (the year NORA was launched) and serves as the reference baseline or metric for evaluating subsequent growth in publication rates in the NORA priority research areas. Publication rates are being tracked from 1996 for each of the 21 priority research areas. Statistical tests will be applied to assess the significance of the rate of change in publications over the baseline period.
NORA Effectiveness Survey
Measuring the amount of money allocated to NORA priority research areas is only one way to gauge the effectiveness of NORA. The NORA Liaison Committee has administered a survey to help determine the recognition and impact of NORA. The Liaison Committee distributed its survey to key associations and professional organizations (see page 24). The survey will be administered periodically by the Liaison Committee to gauge the recognition and influence of NORA over time.
Other Tracking Methods
NIOSH is also tracking "hits" on the NORA web site to assess the diffusion of NORA. The NORA web site has received over 250,000 hits from May 1998 (when the NORA site was initiated) through February 2000 (the last month for which data are available). The NORA web site www.cdc.gov/niosh/norahmpg.html contains all NORA documents, white papers, research summaries, NORA grants information, a calendar of upcoming events, and partnership team information. The team posters, developed for the 1999 NORA Symposium, are also available on the NORA web site.
Many teams are using the NORA web site to enhance their communication efforts. Some teams have also established listservers to communicate among researchers interested in specific priority research areas. The quarterly NORA newsletter, entitled NORA News, has also helped improve NORA communication. Feedback from NORA News response cards reveals that for readers of the newsletter, NORA News is a primary source of information on NORA. Another communications effort, a compendium describing NIOSH-conducted or -funded NORA research, will be available in the summer of 2000.
