Performance evaluation of universities in China based on ESI database

The research performance of universities in China is evaluated in this study from the global perspective. Based on the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database, this research mainly concerns the academic output in overall publication activity and the influential strength of certain disciplines of selected universities. Different types of bibliometric methods are applied in this study, including publication output and impact indicators. Some basic bibliometric indicators, such as number of papers, number of citations, average citation rates, and number of highly cited papers, are obtained from ESI. The other three indicators are yielded from more complicated calculation in order to comprehensively interpret academic performance of selected universities. The overall research performance and the superior disciplines of these universities are revealed in this study, and the authors also compare the outstanding academic disciplines with their so called National Key Disciplines that the universities prioritize. The results show that there is a considerable gap between quality and quantity of research output of the universities in China. Meanwhile, a large degree of research influence concentrates on some specific disciplines of selected universities.