• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2014

For technology level assessment of KIGAM World Class Laboratories (WCL) candidates, bibliometric and qualitative analysis was conducted on their research papers listed on the SCIE database during 2009-2012. For the six research areas of geoscience and mineral resources, a research excellence indicator was applied using a Modified Rank Normalized Impact Factor (mrnIF), which was introduced by Heo et al. (2008) and Cho (2013). The KIGAM research department in rare metals utilization had the highest score for Impact Factor (IF) per paper in 2012 but the groundwater department or the exploration geophysics department came first based on the position and the mrnIF. Applying the mrnIF, the KIGAM research department in groundwater achieved excellent results in 2009 and 2011 and the urban mine department or exploration geophysics department came first place in other years. In the groundwater area, the percentage of research papers over 80 or 90 mrnIF, using Cho (2013)'s research excellence index, was the highest in 2011. The Cho (2013)'s excellent research indicator, 20%, the ratio of over 90 mrnIF was matched in the urban mining area for the whole research period, 2009-2012, and in the groundwater area for several years except 2010. Qualitative analysis of research papers can show the technology level of research departments. KIGAM World Class Laboratories (WCL) candidates should focus on increasing the quality and the quantity of their research papers.