In Spain, in the evaluation of the theses several academics contribute: supervisors, chairs and memberships of the academic assessment boards (AAB). Supervisors propose members of AAB and the PhD commissions from universities select these academics as members of the definitive AAB. This fact generates evident relationships between members that can be analysed and measured using indicators. Our objective is to propose indicators describing relations between supervisors involved in the academic assessment in the Spanish theses. These indicators, when applied to a complete set of theses in a specific field, can provide insights on relations of patronage and academic power between academics and contribute to drawn a picture of the field structure from a sociological point of view.

Trabajo presentado a la 21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators: "Peripheries, frontiers and beyond", celebrada en Valencia (España) del 14 al 16 de septiembre de 2016.

Supported by MINECO (CSO2012-39632-C02-01) and Genalitat Valenciana (GVPrometeo2013-041).

Peer Reviewed