# The three-step workflow: a pragmatic approach to allocating academic hospitals' affiliations for bibliometric purposes

**Authors:** Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Clara Calero-Medina, Martijn S. Visser  
**arXiv:** [2105.13791](https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.13791)  
**Date:** 2021-05-28  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2105.13791v1/

## Key points

- The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University has proposed a three-step workflow to classify the varying degrees of interdependency between academic hospitals and universities in the context of the Leiden Ranking.
- The proposed workflow aligns the university-hospital relationship with one of three general models: full integration, health science centres, and collaboration and support structures.
- This classification system provides a standard by which publications noting affiliations with academic hospitals can be allocated.
- The three-step workflow translates these models into two types of instrumental relationships for publication assignation: "associate" and "component".
- When a hospital is fully integrated or part of a health science centre, it is classified as component; when it follows the model of collaboration and support, it is classified as associate.
- Data compiled following these standards allows for more uniform comparison between worldwide educational and research systems.
- The paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Data and Information Science under grant agreement no: 313082.

## Summary

The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University has proposed a three-step workflow to classify the varying degrees of interdependency between academic hospitals and universities in the context of the Leiden Ranking. The ranking system raises questions about whether or not to allocate publication output of affiliated hospitals to universities, as hospital nomenclatures vary worldwide and do not correspond to universally standard definitions. Rather than seeking a normative definition, the proposed workflow aligns the university-hospital relationship with one of three general models: full integration, health science centres, and collaboration and support structures. This classification system provides a standard by which publications noting affiliations with academic hospitals can be allocated. The three-step workflow translates these models into two types of instrumental relationships for publication assignation: "associate" and "component". When a hospital is fully integrated or part of a health science centre, it is classified as component; when it follows the model of collaboration and support, it is classified as associate. Data compiled following these standards allows for more uniform comparison between worldwide educational and research systems. The paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Data and Information Science under grant agreement no: 313082.