{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]],"date-time":"2026-03-30T19:06:17Z","timestamp":1774897577404,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]],"date-time":"2020-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1582502400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]],"date-time":"2020-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1582502400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Scientometrics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>The well-known \u201cThomas theorem\u201d in sociology is defined as follows: \u201cif men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences\u201d (Thomas and Thomas, The child in America, Knopf, Oxford, 1928, p. 572). The theorem focuses on \u201cobjective consequences of human subjectivity\u201d (Sztompka, Robert K. Merton: An intellectual profile, Macmillan Education, Limited, London, 1986, p. 229). In this Letter to the Editor, we transfer the thought content of the Thomas theorem to university rankings: if rank positions between two universities define performance differences as real, they are real in their consequences (although the university ranking shows only slight differences between the universities\u2019 scores).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]],"date-time":"2020-02-24T08:05:45Z","timestamp":1582531545000},"page":"553-555","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Thomas theorem in research evaluation"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"123","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0810-7091","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lutz","family":"Bornmann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Werner","family":"Marx","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"3389_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"431","DOI":"10.1007\/s10734-010-9339-1","volume":"61","author":"NA Bowman","year":"2011","unstructured":"Bowman, N. A., & Bastedo, M. N. (2011). Anchoring effects in world university rankings: Exploring biases in reputation scores. Higher Education,61(4), 431\u2013444. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10734-010-9339-1.","journal-title":"Higher Education"},{"issue":"3","key":"3389_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"793","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-015-1584-8","volume":"104","author":"C Claassen","year":"2015","unstructured":"Claassen, C. (2015). Measuring university quality. Scientometrics,104(3), 793\u2013807. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-015-1584-8.","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"3389_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"391","DOI":"10.1007\/s11024-017-9329-x","volume":"55","author":"B Hammarfelt","year":"2017","unstructured":"Hammarfelt, B., de Rijcke, S., & Wouters, P. (2017). From eminent men to excellent universities: University rankings as calculative devices. Minerva,55, 391\u2013411. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11024-017-9329-x.","journal-title":"Minerva"},{"issue":"1","key":"3389_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1093\/reseval\/rvr003","volume":"21","author":"MH Huang","year":"2012","unstructured":"Huang, M. H. (2012). Opening the black box of QS World University Rankings. Research Evaluation,21(1), 71\u201378. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/reseval\/rvr003.","journal-title":"Research Evaluation"},{"issue":"1","key":"3389_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"585","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-018-2666-1","volume":"115","author":"J Johnes","year":"2018","unstructured":"Johnes, J. (2018). University rankings: What do they really show? Scientometrics,115(1), 585\u2013606. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-018-2666-1.","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"3389_CR6","unstructured":"Marewski, J.N., & Bornmann, L. (2018). Opium in science and society: Numbers. Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1804.11210"},{"key":"3389_CR7","first-page":"156","volume-title":"Sociological ambivalence","author":"RK Merton","year":"1976","unstructured":"Merton, R. K. (1976). Social knowledge and public policy. Sociological ambivalence (pp. 156\u2013179). New York: Free Press."},{"issue":"2","key":"3389_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.2307\/2580486","volume":"74","author":"RK Merton","year":"1995","unstructured":"Merton, R. K. (1995). The Thomas theorem and the Matthew effect. Social Forces,74(2), 379\u2013422. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/2580486.","journal-title":"Social Forces"},{"key":"3389_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2263","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-016-2056-5","volume":"109","author":"FN Piro","year":"2016","unstructured":"Piro, F. N., & Sivertsen, G. (2016). How can differences in international university rankings be explained? Scientometrics,109, 2263\u20132278. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-016-2056-5.","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"3389_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-18160-5","volume-title":"Robert K. Merton: An intellectual profile","author":"P Sztompka","year":"1986","unstructured":"Sztompka, P. (1986). Robert K. Merton: An intellectual profile. London: Macmillan Education, Limited."},{"key":"3389_CR11","volume-title":"The child in America","author":"WI Thomas","year":"1928","unstructured":"Thomas, W. I., & Thomas, D. S. (1928). The child in America. Oxford: Knopf."},{"key":"3389_CR12","unstructured":"Waltman, L., Wouters, P., & van Eck, N. J. (2017). Ten principles for the responsible use of university rankings. Retrieved June 6, 2017, from https:\/\/www.cwts.nl\/blog?article=n-r2q274&title=ten-principles-for-the-responsible-use-of-university-rankings"}],"container-title":["Scientometrics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,23]],"date-time":"2021-02-23T00:46:39Z","timestamp":1614041199000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,4]]}},"alternative-id":["3389"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03389-6","relation":{},"ISSN":["0138-9130","1588-2861"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0138-9130","type":"print"},{"value":"1588-2861","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]]},"assertion":[{"value":"19 January 2020","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"24 February 2020","order":2,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}}]}}