The correlation between citation counts and the 1992 research assessment exercise ratings for British research in genetics, anatomy and archaeology

A study was carried out to assess the correlation between scores achieved by academic departments in the UK in the 1992. Research Assessment Exercise, and the number of citations received by academics in those departments for articles published in the period 1985-1992, using the Institute for Scientific Information's citation databases. Only those papers first authored by academics identified from the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook were examined. Three subject areas: Anatomy, Generics and Archaeology were chosen to complement Library and Information Management that had already been the subject of such a study. It was found that in all three cases, there is a statistically significant correlation between the total number of citations received, or the average number of citations per member of staff, and the Research Assessment Exercise score. Surprisingly, the strongest correlation was found in Archaeology, a subject noted for its heavy emphasis on monographic literature and with relatively low citation counts. The results make it clear that citation counting provides a robust and reliable indicator of the research performance of UK academic departments in a variety of disciplines, and the paper argues that for future Research Assessment Exercises, citation counting should be the primary, but not the only, means of calculating Research Assessment Exercise scores.