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Analysis of institutional authors

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March 7, 2024
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Thermal comfort of older people during summer in the continental Mediterranean climate

Publicated to:Journal Of Building Engineering. 54 - 2022-01-01 54(), DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104680

Authors: Baquero MT; Forcada N

Affiliations

Department of Project and Construction Engineering (DPCE), Group of Construction Research and Innovation (GRIC), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. (UPC), Colom, 11, Ed. TR5, Barcelona, Terrassa, 08222, Spain - Author

Abstract

Globally, the population is ageing and extreme weather scenarios are expected, especially in southern European countries. In this context, the study assessed the thermal comfort of older people in five nursing homes in a continental Mediterranean climate in Spain during summer, through environmental measurements and surveys on site. A total of 1412 people were interviewed, including residents (older people) and non-residents (adults). The results showed that under the same environmental conditions, adults felt that the environment was warmer and they were less tolerant than older people. There was a 2.4 °C difference between the neutral temperature of older people (25.6 °C) and adults (23.2 °C). Older people were less sensitive to thermal changes and their comfort zone was wider than that of adults. The comparison with similar studies from other climatic zones concluded that the neutral temperature for elderly in different climatic zones is similar but the thermal comfort zones are different. Older people were less sensitive to temperature changes than the predicted mean vote (PMV) model predicted. Therefore, this model would not be suitable for older people in cooling conditions in the Mediterranean continental climate. These results could be a starting point for the development of more accurate, healthy indoor spaces that meet the needs of older people as a vulnerable group, while improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. © 2022 The Authors

Keywords

Climate modelsClimatologyCooling season1Cooling season<sup>1</sup>Energy efficiencyEnvironmental measurementsEnvironmental surveysEuropean countriesExtreme weatherHospitalsMediterranean climatesNeutral temperatureNursingNursing homesOlder peopleThermal comfortThermal sensationThermal sensations

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Journal Of Building Engineering due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position 13/139, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Civil. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations from Scopus Elsevier, it yields a value for the Field-Weighted Citation Impact from the Scopus agency: 3.38, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 50.26 (source consulted: Dimensions Aug 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-08-02, the following number of citations:

  • Scopus: 27

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-08-02:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 89.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 113 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.85.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (BAQUERO LARRIVA, MARIA TERESA) and Last Author (BAQUERO LARRIVA, MARIA TERESA).