Influence of database mistakes on journal citation analysis: remarks on the paper by Franceschini and Maisano, QREI (2010)

This short note contains some remarks on a recent bibliometric survey about some of the major scientific journals in the field of Quality Engineering/Management (Qual. Reliab. Engng. Int. 2010; 26(6):593–604). In particular, thanks to Professor Woodall’s precious indication, it has been freshly noticed that some results in the original work are biased by mistakes in the bibliometric databases (in this case Google Scholar). After a careful examination and correction of biased data, a synthetic analysis of the typical mistakes of bibliometric databases is presented, focussing the attention on the importance of using robust bibliometric indicators.