The measurement of italian universities' research productivity by a non parametric-bibliometric methodology

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-parametric bibliometric method using data envelopment analysis to evaluate the research productivity of Italian universities, considering multiple inputs and outputs for a comprehensive efficiency assessment.

Contribution

It develops a novel DEA-based methodology that addresses limitations of previous approaches by incorporating detailed bibliometric data and author-specific analysis.

Findings

Effective measurement of university research efficiency

Identification of high-performing institutions

Enhanced accuracy over traditional metrics

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for measuring the technical efficiency of research activities. It is based on the application of data envelopment analysis to bibliometric data on the Italian university system. For that purpose, different input values (research personnel by level and extra funding) and output values (quantity, quality and level of contribution to actual scientific publications) are considered. Our study aims at overcoming some of the limitations connected to the methodologies that have so far been proposed in the literature, in particular by surveying the scientific production of universities by authors' name.