Research impact benchmarks for tourism, hospitality and events scholars in Australia and New Zealand

This paper provides academic impact benchmarks for tourism, hospitality and event scholars located in Australian and New Zealand to assist with the reporting requirements required for grant applications, performance appraisals, career advancement, job applications and research assessments. The paper also presents research metrics for several other countries that produce tourism, hospitality and events research. The analysis is based on Google Scholar citation metrics calculated from two different datasets. The findings confirm significant differences between scholars across different academic levels, research fields, institutional contexts and higher education systems. The key contribution of this paper lies in aggregating all of the available data to present objective and valid benchmarks for comparing the academic impact of individual scholars. The paper also considers some of the risks and limitations of relying solely on citation metrics to measure academic impact. The measurement of research performance at an individual, institutional or national level can lead to individual behaviours that may distort the production of knowledge and epistemological development of the field. We conclude by calling for a wider discussion about the assessment of research performance and impact in tourism, hospitality and events.