WEBOMETRIC RANKING AND THE ROLE OF ICT PRESENTATION

WEBOMETRIC RANKING AND THE ROLE OF ICT PRESENTATION AT THE RETREAT FOR THE STAFF OF ELIZADE UNIVERSITY ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 BY Dr. Christopher Nkiko

Protocols § § § § The Vice- Chancellor Registrar Bursar Deans and Directors Eminent Professors Heads of Departments Distinguished Faculty and Staff Ladies and Gentlemen

§ May I respectfully applaud and congratulate management on the entrenched practice of annual Executive Retreat for staff. It is indeed a global best practice for Corporate Organizations. It is my privilege to be invited to share thoughts on the topic titled “Webometric Ranking and the Role of ICT”. § Great retreats do not necessarily translate to great achievements. It is great commitments and decisions that provoke outstanding results.

Introduction § Great institutions are reflections of great talents of staff and students. § The web represents most important scholarly communication tool § It is the open forum for the community engagement and the universal showcase for attracting talent, funding and resources.

Webometric Ranking § It is also known as Ranking web of Universities. This is a ranking system of the world’s Universities based on composite indicators that take into account both the volume of web content (number of web pages and files) the visibility and impact of these web publications according to the number of external links (site citations) received. The ranking is published by the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) located in Madrid § Since 2004, the Ranking web (or webometrics Ranking) is published twice a year (data are collected during the first week of January and July for being published at the end of both months).

Webometric Ranking (Cont’d) • It is not a ranking of websites but indicators of global performance of a University such as teaching commitment, results, perceived international prestige, links with the community. • Web design is totally irrelevant as all the measurements are related to the contents published (quantity and quality) especially those open access documents of academic interest or relevance.

Indicators and Methodology The following are the areas and methodology of ranking: § Presence § Visibility or Impact § Transparency or Openness § Excellence or Scholar

Indicators INDICATO DESCRIPTION RS Presence Size (number of webpages) of the main webdomain of the institution. It includes all the subdomains sharing the same (central or main) webdomain and all the file types including rich files like pdf documents Visibility Number of external networks (subnets) originating backlinks to the institution's webpages. After normalization, the average value between the two sources is selected Transparenc Number of citations from Top authors according to y the source or Openness But see Transparent Ranking for additional info Excellence Number of papers amongst the top 10% most cited in or Scholar 26 disciplines Data for the five year period SOURCE Google Scopus Ahrefs Majestic WEIGHT and 5% 50% Google Scholar 10 % Citations Scimago 35 %

S/N INDICATORS 1. Presence 2. Visibility METHODOLOGY SOURCE The university should automate all activities both administrative and Google scholar academic e. g. signing of forms, registrations, admission process and form, reference letters or forms, hostel accommodation, library registration for both regular students and external users, visitor pages, upload of university activities on social media such as Facebook, You. Tube, Linked. In etc. § Ensuring all staff have personal webpage on the main domain. § All departments and units to have a small portal or micro site as a sub domain § All activities/pages or forms should carry subdomains § Library should be in charge of uploading scholarly contents on the web in all the file types including rich files like pdf documents and any publication for promotion must be uploaded in IR § all lecture notes should be uploaded on the university portal § University should deploy Learning Management System Software such as Moodle and lecture notes and presentation should be uploaded on this platform WEIGHT Number of external networks (subnets) originating backlinks to the Ahrefs institution's webpages Majestic Institutional Repository should be developed to house all institutions’ and staff publications including gray literature. All university websites should be updated from time to time 50% score 5% score

S/N INDICATORS METHODOLOGY 1. Visibility SOURCE WEIGHT § In order to increase visibility, external networks must Ahrefs Majestic 50% score reference resources on domain of interest. E. g Google and all other website must link back to contents on our website. § Researchers should be mandated to upload their papers on the University Repository from where all external websites would reference it.

3. Transparency The university should encourage academics Google to publish in more reputable outlets and also Scholar or Openness sponsor their research publications. Citations Collaboration with researchers in other institution both local and international should be encouraged. The more publications linked to the University via institutional email and affiliation, the better. 10% score

S/N 1. INDICATORS METHODOLOGY SOURCE WEIGHT Excellence or § This is based on the number of citations from top Google scholar 35% score authors. Scholar § There should be incentive for those who publish in high-impact journals § Scholars need to be taught how to use social media to project their works. § Scopus-indexed papers to be rewarded during promotion § International linkages and affiliation should be encouraged § Sabbatical leave should be tied to terms and condition (publications) § Involvement of PG students in University Research § Build a vibrant alumni network that will project the image of the institution § Build a strong system of conference support grants, competitive training and research grants, rigorous promotion criteria

Conclusion § It is about building appropriate digital platforms and infrastructure. § It is about generating contents in quantity and quality as well as uploading them as appropriate. § It is about generating appropriate traffics and backlinks. § It is embracing internal efficiency and excellence to grow institutional reputation.

References • http: //www. webometrics. info/en/current_edition • http: //www. webometrics. info/en/node/169