Rivals for the crown: Reply to Opthof and Leydesdorff

TL;DR

This paper defends the authors' normalization methods for citation counts against criticism, clarifying their approach and acknowledging valid points raised by critics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed rebuttal to specific criticisms of citation normalization techniques and clarifies the authors' methodology.

Findings

Most criticisms are unjustified

Some valid points are acknowledged

Clarification of normalization methods

Abstract

We reply to the criticism of Opthof and Leydesdorff [arXiv:1002.2769] on the way in which our institute applies journal and field normalizations to citation counts. We point out why we believe most of the criticism is unjustified, but we also indicate where we think Opthof and Leydesdorff raise a valid point.