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Publication metrics for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator grant

Use this guide to access example statements and instructions for finding key evidence to include in your NHMRC Investigator Grant application. Note that not all sections will be relevant to your application.

Example statements for top 10 in last 10 years

Citation: Murray, M, et al. (last author; 2018). An emerging trend in functional foods for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: Marine algal polyphenols. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition; 58(8):248; 1342-1358. 

  • Explanation: C = 70, FWCI = 3.17 and in the top 7% field-weighted (SciVal, May 2024).

Citation: Coombes J & Skinner, T. (1st author; 2022). ESSA's student manual for health, exercise and sport assessment, 2nd edition. Mosby Elsevier. 

  • Explanation: Book held in 135 libraries in 16 countries (WorldCat, May 2024). Endorsed by Exercise and Sports Science Australia and aligned with National University Course Accreditation Program criteria (Elsevier, May 2024).

Citation: Janda M, et al. (1st author; 2017). Effect of total laparoscopic hysterectomy vs total abdominal hysterectomy on disease-free survival among women with stage i endometrial cancer: A randomised clinical trial. Journal of the Australian Medical Association; 317(12); 1224-1233. 

  • Explanation: C = 287, FWCI = 14.47 and in the top 1% field-weighted (SciVal, May 2024). Highly Cited Paper in the ESI field of Clinical Medicine (WoS, May 2024).  Has 1 clinical citation (PubMed Practice Guideline) and 6 policy citations (PlumX, May 2024). Has been mentioned in 13 news stories across 10 outlets from 3 different countries, including Pediatric News (USA) and Cancer Research UK (Altmetric, May 2024). 

Note: These examples include metrics and relevant evidence that can be obtained from the sources mentioned in this guide. 

Finding article metrics

Compare your publications to work of a similar age, subject area or journal to decide what your top papers are.

You can analyse how each of your publications are performing relative to the field, in the SciVal database (Scopus indexed publications).Top papers in SciVal provides steps to identify how each of your publications are performing, and those that are performing well in their field.

For definitions about publication metrics in Scopus - visit How are Article Metrics used in Scopus? 

Tips

  • You can include new papers as part of your top 10. However, avoid using field-weighted metrics for 2024 publications (as these are unstable within the first year of publication). 
  • Include core metrics within the explanation field, including field-weighted and citation metrics. 
  • Always cite the source and date that the metrics data was obtained e.g. FWCI = 4.5 (SciVal, Feb 2024); Highly Cited Paper in the ESI field of Clinical Medicine (WoS, Feb 2024). 
  • Don’t include Journal Impact Factors or CiteScores (as stated in the NHRC guidelines). It is better to focus on the quality and impact of your publications, rather than the journals they are published in. However, you could indicate if a journal is Q1 or ranked highly within a subject area - as this may help assessors ascertain the quality of your publication. 
  • Make sure you know which source the metrics data comes from e.g. Highly Cited Papers can only be found in WoS. 

There may be reasons beyond citation metrics as to why a publication is selected in your top 10, depending on the field and the type of publication. These include but are not limited to: