Job Competency Criteria for scientometrics specialists: Interviews with Faculty Members and Job Owners

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student in knowledge and information science; Payame Noor University

2 Assistant Professor of Knowledge and Information Science, Payame Noor University

3 Associate Professor of Knowledge and information science. Payame Noor University

Abstract

Purpose: One of the requirements for organizations' human resources is the compilation of job competencies and professional skills for different ranks of employees. Job competencies are a set of provable characteristics and skills that enable and improve the efficiency or performance of a job. They are the examination of people's skills and abilities to make them hold different jobs and positions, and through its analysis, possible training needs of employees are also identified. Compilation of job competencies of various specialties is significant for organizations in the sense that the quality of employees' work is one of the factors for the continuity of the organization's success; Therefore, it is necessary to use a systematic way to select employees and identify and select the most suitable people for the desired position from domestic or foreign applicants. This study aims to identify the job competencies and skills required by scientometrics specialists to provide an effective performance in training, hiring, and evaluating specialists in this field, as well as reviewing the educational program and course title of scientometrics.
Methodology: This research was conducted using qualitative and quantitative content analysis to identify categories and count the frequency of analysis units. Qualitative content analysis is a research method for the content interpretation of textual data through systematic classification, coding, and thematization or design of known patterns. The quantitative content analysis method was also used to count the analysis units (sentences). The research population consisted of 18 scientometrics specialists, including faculty members of knowledge and information science, managers, and experts of scientometrics units of the Ministry of Health, who were selected by purposeful sampling. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed manually based on semantic units (sentences). In general, in the content analysis, the unit of analysis in this research was related sentences and concepts, which were analyzed and counted after careful examination. Then, in each sentence, the codes were determined manually and the main and subcategories were selected for each topic. The reliability of codes was checked by two researchers. The similarity percentage of the selected codes was 87%. The validity of the interview guide was also confirmed by two experts. The validity of the research was also controlled by selecting the sample with the maximum information richness and also the precise determination of the data analysis unit.
Findings: By analyzing the interviews, 184 unique codes were extracted, and 41 skills and nine job competencies were compiled by categorizing them. The professional competencies of scientific experts were classified into two categories: general competencies and specialized competencies. General competence includes four items of communication characteristics, independent learning, training and counseling, and knowledge management. Specialized competence was formulated, including 5 items of ability to use scientometric tools, scientometric data management, specialized knowledge, data mining techniques, statistical analysis tools, research policy-making, and strategy formulation.
Conclusion: With the expansion of the scientometrics field and its activities in Iranian organizations, the necessity of compiling the job competencies and professional skills of experts in this field was felt as an independent specialty. In addition to identifying the competencies and skills needed by scientometrics specialists, this article helps to know more about this field and shows the importance and necessity of this field in academic and scientific institutions. Scientometrics, as a job in the set of organizational jobs, has competencies and skills that can be the basis of integrated human resource science in training, hiring, and evaluating professionals in this job. The value of this research findings is in line with the actual activities of the job and global scientometrics trends. The identified competencies and skills showed that the curriculum and course titles of scientometrics do not cover all of these cases and need to be reviewed for this purpose. Furthermore, some general competencies and skills cannot be included in the curriculum and require in-service training provided by science centers.

Keywords


آزادی، محمدحسین و هادوی‌نژاد، مصطفی (1397). شایستگی‌های محوری شغلی رسته‌های تخصصی نیروی انتظامی. پژوهش‌های مدیریت انتظامی، 13 (4)، 565-590.
ایمان، محمدتقی و نوشادی، محمدرضا (1390). تحلیل محتوای کیفی. پژوهش، 3 (2): 44-15.
حاج‌کریمى، عباسعلى، رضائیان، على، هادی‌زاده، اکرم و بنیادى‌نائینى، على (1390). طراحى مدل شایستگی‌هاى مدیران منابع انسانى بخش دولتى در ایران. چشم‌انداز مدیریت دولتى، 2 (4):23-44.
درویش، حسن، موغلى، علیرضا، موسوى، محمد و پناهى، بلال (1393). تبیین شایستگى‌هاى منابع انسانى در شرکت ملى
پتروشیمى ایران. پژوهشنامه مدیریت تحول، 6 (11)، 92-111.
شیرازى، على و اژدری، گلناز (1393). مدلى براى طراحى و ارزیابی شایستگى‌هاى شغلى دانش‌کاران: موردکاوى مشاغل. پژوهش‌هاى مدیریت منابع سازمانى، 4 (2)، 65-81.
فتاح‌پور مرندی، مرتضی، کاشف، محمد، سیدعامری، حسن و شجیع، رضا (1395). تدوین الگوی شایستگی‌های شغلی مدیران ورزشی (مطالعة موردی: مدیران ادارات کل ورزش و جوانان استان‌ها). مطالعات مدیریت ورزشی، 9 (42): 184-163.
مؤمنی‌راد، اکبر، علی‌آبادی، خدیجه، فردانش، هاشم و مزینی، ناصر (1392). تحلیل محتوای کیفی در آیین پژوهش: ماهیت، مراحل و اعتبار نتایج. اندازه‌گیری تربیتی. 4 (14): 222-187.
میرسپاسى، ناصر و غلام‌زاده، داریوش (1388). طراحى الگوى شایستگى براى پرورش مدیران در بخش دولتى ایران (مطالعه موردى: مدیران میانى بخش صنعت). آینده‌پژوهى مدیریت، 20 (83)، 1-16.
نوروزی ‌چاکلی، عبدالرضا (1390). آشنایی با علم‌سنجی (مبانی، مفاهیم، روابط و ریشه‌ها). تهران: سمت.
نوروزی چاکلی، عبدالرضا (1398). سخن سردبیر: نیم‌نگاهی تأمل‌برانگیز به پشتوانه‌های پژوهشی، آموزشی و حرفه‌ای رشتۀ علم‌سنجی در دانشگاه‌های جهان. پژوهش‌نامة علم‌سنجی، 5 (9)، 1-3.
Åström, F. (2007). Changes in the LIS research front: Time‐sliced cocitation analyses of LIS journal articles, 1990–2004. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology58(7), 947-957. doi:10.1002/asi.20567
Åström, F., & Hansson, J. (2013). How implementation of bibliometric practice affects the role of academic libraries. Journal of Librarianship and information Science45(4), 316-322. doi: 10.1177/0961000612456867
Azadi, M., & Hadavinejad, M. (2018). Professional Competencies of the Specialized Ranks of Police Forces. Police Management Studies Quarterly13(4), 565-590. [In Persian].
Byrne, J. (2019). Building a Future-Ready Workforce-Embedding Bibliometric Capabilities at UNSW Library. Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences. Paper 5. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2019/structure/5
Corrall, S., Kennan, M. A., & Afzal, W. (2013). Bibliometrics and research data management services: Emerging trends in library support for research. Library trends61(3), 636-674. doi: 10.1353/lib.2013.0005
Cox, A., Gadd, E., Petersohn, S., & Sbaffi, L. (2019). Competencies for bibliometrics. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science51(3), 746-762. doi: 10.1177/0961000617728111
 Darvish, H., Moogali, A., Mousavi, M. & Panahi, B. (2014). Explanation of human resource competencies in Iranian national petroleum company. Transformational Management Journal, 6(11), 92-111. [In Persian].
Esmailzadeh, M., Bahrami, M., & Soleymani, M. R. (2020). Competences of academic librarians in providing health research services: A qualitative study. Journal of Education and Health Promotion9. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_254_20
Fattahpour Marandi, M., Kashef, S. M., Seyed Ameri, M., & Shajie, R. (2017). Codification of Sports Administrators Job Competency Model (Case Study: Administrative Director of Youth and Sports Provinces). Sport Management Studies, 9(42), 163-184. doi: 10.22089/smrj.2017.2595.1525. [In Persian].
Gadd, E., & Rowlands, I. (2018). How can bibliometric and altmetric suppliers improve? Messages from the end-user community. Insights31. doi:10.1629/uksg.437
González-Alcaide, G., & Poveda-Pastor, I. (2018). Emerging roles in Library and Information Science: consolidation in the scientific literature and appropriation by professionals of the discipline. Scientometrics, 116(1), 319-337. doi:10.1007/s11192-018-2766-y
Gumpenberger, C., Wieland, M., & Gorraiz, J. (2012). Bibliometric practices and activities at the University of Vienna. Library management. doi: 10.1108/01435121211217199
Gutsche, B., & Hough, B. (Eds.). (2014). Competency index for the library field. OCLC Online Computer Library Center. http://www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/Competency-Index-for-the-Library-Field.html (accessed 11 October 2020).
Haddow, G., & Mamtora, J. (2017). Research support in Australian academic libraries: services, resources, and relationships. New Review of Academic Librarianship23(2-3), 89-109. doi:10.1080/13614533.2017.1318765
Haitun, S. D. (1980). Scientometric investigations in the USSR. Scientometrics2(1), 65-84. doi: 10.1007/bf02016600
Hajkarimi, A., Rezaeian, A., Hadizadeh, A. & Bonyadi Naeini, A. (2011). Designing a competency model for human resources managers in the public sector in Iran. Public Administration Perspective, 2(4), 23-43. [In Persian].
Hammarfelt, B., Nelhans, G., Eklund, P., & Åström, F. (2016). The heterogeneous landscape of bibliometric indicators: Evaluating models for allocating resources at Swedish universities. Research Evaluation25(3), 292-305. doi:10.1093/reseval/rvv040
Howie, J., & Kara, H. (2019). Research Support in New Zealand University Libraries. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 1-30. doi:10.1080/13614533.2019.1700535
Iman, M. & Noushadi, M. (2011). Qualitative content analysis. Pazhuhesh, 3(2), 15-44. [In Persian].
Mirsepasci, N. & Gholamzadeh, D. (2009). Competency modeling for public sector managers (middle managers of industrial section). Journal Of Management Futures Research, 20(83), 1-16. [In Persian].
Momeni Rad, A., Aliabadi, K, fardanesh, H. & mozayani, N. (2013). Qualitative content analysis in research tradition: nature, stages and validity of the results. Quarterly of Educational Measurement, 4(14), 187-222. [In Persian].
Nalimov, V. V., & Mul’chenko, Z. M. (1969). Naukometriya, izuchenie razvitiya nauki kak informatsionnogo protsessa.[naukometriya the study of the development of science as an information process]. Wydawnictwo “Nauka”, Moskwa.
Nazim, M., & Mukherjee, B. (2013). Knowledge management competencies required among library and information science professionals. Library review. Vol. 62(6/7), 375-387. doi: 10.1108/LR-02-2013-0025
Noroozi Chakoli, A. (2011). Introduction to Scientometrics (Foundations, Concepts, Relations & Origins). Tehran: SAMT. [In Persian].
Noroozi Chakoli, A. (2019). Note from the Editor-in-Chief: A thought-provoking semi-perspective on the research, educational, and professional backgrounds of the scientometrics discipline at the universities of the world. Scientometrics Research Journal5(9), 1-3. doi: 10.22070/rsci.2019.1031. [In Persian].
Petersohn, S. (2016). Professional competencies and jurisdictional claims in evaluative bibliometrics: The educational mandate of academic librarians. Education for Information32(2), 165-193. doi: 10.3233/EFI-150972
Shirazi A, Azhdari G. (2014).  A Model for Knowledge Worker Competencies Design and Assessment: Case Study of Jobs. Organizational Resources Management Researches, 4 (2) :66-81. [In Persian].
Tripathi, K., & Agrawal, M. (2014). Competency based management in organizational. Global Journal of Finance and Management, 6(4), 349-356
Van Raan, A. (1997). Scientometrics: State-of-the-art. Scientometrics, 38(1), 205-218. doi: 10.1007/bf02461131
Vinkler, P (2010). The evaluation of the research by scientometrics indicators. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.
Weinland, J. T., Gregory, A. M., & Petrick, J. A. (2016). Cultivating the aptitudes of vacation ownership management: A competency domain cluster analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 55, 88–95. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.02.006
Zhao, D., & Strotmann, A. (2008). Information science during the first decade of the web: An enriched author cocitation analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology59(6), 916-937. doi: 10.1002/asi.20799
Zhao, D., & Strotmann, A. (2014). The knowledge base and research front of information science 2006–2010: An author cocitation and bibliographic coupling analysis. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology65(5), 995-1006. doi: 10.1002/asi.23027