What are citation percentiles and how can I use them?
Answer
What are citation percentiles?
Citation percentiles compare the citation performance of a publication to others from the same year. This allows researchers to understand how well a paper is performing relative to its peers, rather than only counting total citations.
For example: A paper in the 90th percentile has more citations than 90% of similar outputs, placing it in the top 10% for citation impact.
The way citation percentiles are calculated differs between the Scival (Elsevier) and Incites (Clarivate) platforms, as explained below.
Why are citation percentiles useful?
Citation percentiles can be helpful for:
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Benchmarking publication impact within disciplines
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Making fair comparisons across fields or career stages
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Identifying high-performing research outputs (e.g. top 10%, top 5%)
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Supporting evidence in REF case studies, funding applications, or promotions
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Evaluating publication quality with more context than raw citation counts
As with any metric, citation percentiles should be interpreted alongside other indicators and qualitative information.
For an accessible introduction, see our online learning resource:
Scival (Elsevier)
Scival provides citation percentiles which compare a publication's number of citations to that of all others with the same publication year, based on data from Scopus. By default this value is not normalised by publication type (e.g. Article, Review) or by subject area.
Percentile data specific to a single publication type can be retrieved by applying a publication type filter. This will apply to the "data universe" citation percentiles are calculated from, as well as your list of publications, allowing an output's performance relative to others with the same publication type to be calculated.
Field Weighted Citation Percentiles
Scival also provides Field Weighted Citation Percentiles, selected in the screenshot below. This is calculated based on Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) rather than citation counts. As FWCI is normalised by publication type and subject area, Field Weighted Citation Percentiles therefore inherit these qualities.
How to Find Citation Percentiles in SciVal
To find citation percentiles in SciVal, follow these steps:
1. Access SciVal
- In order to access SciVal you will need to register for an account with Elsevier. You must use your University of Manchester email address and credentials in order to do this. Once you have registered the tool can be accessed from www.scival.com
2. Search for Your Paper or Author:
- You will need to locate your author profile within SciVal. Use the Explore function, then select Researchers & Groups. You will need to use the Create/Import option to locate your profile if you do not already have this saved within SciVal.
3. View Citation Percentile Data:
- Once you’ve found your profile, you can use the Publication Metrics option to view details of any papers which appear in the Top 10% citation percentiles (or above). You can also use the View list of publications option to details for individual papers. These can be exported which will provide details of individual paper percentile numbers.
Scopus
Elsevier also make Field Weighted Citation Percentile data for individual articles available via Scopus.
To find citation percentiles in Scopus, follow these steps:
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Log In to Scopus:
- Access Scopus using the link provided within Library search
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Search for the Paper:
- Enter the title, DOI, or other identifiers to search for the paper you're interested in.
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Locate Citation Data:
- Scopus will display citation metrics for that publication, including its Field Weighted Citation Percentile relative to similar papers in the same field and time period.
Incites (Clarivate)
InCites (based on Web of Science data) provides:
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Citation percentile ranks by default normalised by Web of Science subject category, publication year, and document type. (Web of Science subject categories are calculated at the level of a Journal or Book)
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Lists of top 10% and top 1% publications
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Institutional or department-level benchmarking
To explore citation percentiles in InCites, please contact the Office for Open Research
Further Reading
For more details on citation percentiles and how to use them in SciVal, we recommend reviewing Elsevier’s own dedicated resources:
If you have further questions then please contact the Office for Open Research