How do I... - Saturday 04 March 2023
The search for academic experts
After defining expertise and the key points to consider when looking for an expert in the Highlight on the keys to expertise, we will now focus on academic experts.
Nuancing the notion of expertise
Originally simple holders of “targeted competences [...] whose recognized practice allows them to enlighten judges on controversial cases", experts have become professionalized with the developments of the industrial society to take on an autonomy which seems to place them above other citizens. To such an extent that it is now necessary not only to distinguish the criteria of expertise in order to know how to evaluate it, but also to limit the recourse to expertise in order to preserve the "democratic process". The objectives of this Highlight are therefore twofold. Both to enable the effective identification of experts in an academic context, through a methodically conducted search for information, and to provide the keys to a critical evaluation of the place of expertise in decision-making.
Knowing how to delimit expertise according to its fields of application
Part of the difficulty in evaluating expertise is that it is not univocal. There are indeed many fields in which one cannot affirm that there is a better way of doing, thinking and deciding than another. These fields are subject to the coexistence and sometimes the confrontation of approaches, which must nevertheless at least be evaluated according to explicit criteria. The value of the selected expertise will then be conferred by the validity of the reasoning that led to its selection, in a socio-constructivist perspective of knowledge. Some fields of investigation, often more technical, suggest that the expertise can be demonstrated by the facts. Closer to a scientific approach, expertise then has a well-defined scope: it must be evaluated in the specific field where it is expressed and not be transposed to others. The aura of scientific knowledge among the general public and the media is indeed such today that it could also lead to a misuse of expertise.
To summarize parts 1 and 2 of this zoom, it is necessary to distance oneself from media trends in order to conduct an effective information search about experts in particular. This area is therefore related to the evaluation of information, and the notion of what is authoritative. In this regard, it is also important to remember that expertise is not fixed, that it is constructed in controversy. Knowing how to identify the points that are the subject of debate, and how to position the actors dynamically, in order to understand their interests, allows us to avoid being fooled by possible "strategies of doubt", such as greenwashing, or manipulations of all kinds that are part of disinformation.
Using experts in an academic context
In the context of higher education, the search for experts is most often carried out with the aim of identifying the main contributors to a field of knowledge, those who are at the origin of the concepts of this field or of its most advanced developments, in order to mobilize these concepts correctly in a professional thesis, a dissertation, or another academic assignment. Depending on the degree of technicality, the more or less industrial applications of these concepts, the ways of searching for experts in the field will differ. We will focus here mainly on this academic context
Web Of Science and Google Scholar for expert research
The search for authors who are specialists in a given field can be carried out on the academic databases Web of Science and Google Scholar, which are complementary.
In any scientific article, it is difficult to identify a main contributor among the list of co-authors: it is necessary to use the contact information that is indicated, for example, in Web of Science:
The corresponding author is not necessarily the first author, but when it is, it gives a good indication of the main contributor of the article.
You can also rely on the various articles about the same field published by a scientific author to identify them as an expert in that field.
This type of search also applies to experts in the humanities and social sciences.
Two recent tools allow the identification of the most advanced contributors in a scientific and technical field:
- Google Scholar, through the researcher profile feature. This feature is not yet displayed by Google Scholar on its homepage, so you have to use the link provided above (Comment faire évoluer sa recherche d’information scientifique avec les nouveautés de Google Scholar et les autres ? Carole Tisserand-Barthole, 18 June 2022. BASES).
The most cited researchers appear first. The expert's record mentions their other subjects of expertise, as well as their articles in the decreasing order of the most cited, and their co-authors.
- Clarivate's ranking of the most cited researchers in the world by subject (more information about this ranking).
For example, you can search in the "economics and business" category, then by institution or region of the world, or directly by the name of a researcher to consult their profile:
You will then see on which subjects the expert intervenes the most, their publications in Web of Science and various other indicators accessible only via a subscription to the database, for example that of the K-lab of ESSEC.
But unlike Google Scholar Profiles, it is not possible to do a keyword search here.
Scientific social networks such as Academia or ResearchGate should be taken with caution because there is no filter for registering and submitting documents: always double-check with validated sources in our academic databases, especially peer reviewed journals.
You can also refer to the authors of textbooks, reference works in educational or popular science and technology collections.
Finally, you can verify the expertise of the people you have identified with your professors or tutors, who are themselves specialists in their field.
