Research in earth sciences in the framework of the Spanish system of scientific evaluation: A bibliometric analysis

The situation of Spanish research on Earth Sciences during the period 1990--1994 is characterized. Public and private agents involved in scientific research in this field in Spain are identified, describing their scientific output and research performance, as well as their relationships at both the national and international level. The methodology used is based on the utilization, on the one hand, of scientist's opinion and, on the other, of bibliometric indicators of scientific output. Opinions of Spanish Earth scientists were obtained through the specially designed survey "Research activities carried out in the R&D System on Earth Sciences in Spain, 1990--1994". Bibliometric analysis was carried out starting from information on Spanish output contained in three different bibliographic databases: SCI (Science Citation Index), GeoRef (Geological Reference File) and ICYT (Spanish Index on Science and Technology). Furthermore, being the SCI the database is usually used for carrying out bibliometric studies, we determined its suitability as a tool for evaluating Spanish scientific output in Earth Sciences. Finally, we investigated the influence of the present system for the evaluation of the research performance of Spanish scientists, on the research work of Spanish scientists on this field---particularly those directly affected by said evaluation, i.e., those belonging to the University and the Spanish Council for Scientific Research---as well as on the rest of components of the Spanish R&D System of Earth Sciences.