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Analysis of institutional authors

Ximenez, CarmenAuthorRevuelta, JavierAuthor

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December 16, 2024
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Percentage of Variance Accounted for in Structural Equation Models: The Rediscovery of the Goodness of Fit Index

Publicated to: Psychological Methods. - 2024-09-26 (), DOI: 10.1037/met0000680

Authors:

Maydeu-Olivares, A; Ximénez, C; Revuelta, J
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Affiliations

Univ Autonoma Madrid, Dept Psychol, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Barcelona, Fac Psychol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ South Carolina, Dept Psychol, 1512 Pendelton St, Columbia, SC 29208 USA - Author
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Abstract

This article delves into the often-overlooked metric of percentage of variance accounted for in structural equation models (SEM). The goodness of fit index (GFI) provides the percentage of variance of the sum of squared covariances explained by the model. Despite being introduced over four decades ago, the GFI has been overshadowed in favor of fit indices that prioritize distinctions between close and nonclose fitting models. Similar to R2 in regression, the GFI should not be used to this aim but rather to quantify the model's utility. The central aim of this study is to reintroduce the GFI, introducing a novel approach to computing the GFI using mean and mean-and-variance corrected test statistics, specifically designed for nonnormal data. We use an extensive simulation study to evaluate the precision of inferences on the GFI, including point estimates and confidence intervals. The findings demonstrate that the GFI can be very accurately estimated, even with nonnormal data, and that confidence intervals exhibit reasonable accuracy across diverse conditions, including large models and nonnormal data scenarios. The article provides methods and code for estimating the GFI in any SEM, urging researchers to reconsider the reporting of the percentage of variance accounted for as an essential tool for model assessment and selection.
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Keywords

Confirmatory factor-analysisCovariance structure-analysisFactor analysisFactor loadingsGoodness-of-fitMaximum-likelihoodMisspecificationMonte carlo simulatioMonte-carloNonnormal dataR packageSample-sizeSensitivit

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS 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, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 9/223, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Psychology, Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-05:

  • WoS: 6
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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 2026-04-05:

  • 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: 11.
  • 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: 13 (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: 5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 6 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/725260
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (REVUELTA MENENDEZ, JAVIER).

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Awards linked to the item

This work was supported by Fulbright Grants PRX21/00587 and PRX21/00305, awarded to Carmen Ximenez and Javier Revuelta, and Grants PID2021-124885NB-I00 and PGC2018-093838-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades. The participation of Alberto Maydeu-Olivares was supported, in part, by the Research Center for Child Well-Being (NIGMS P20GM130420), Grant PID2020-119755GB-I00 funded by AEI 10.13039/501100011033, and AGAUR Grant 1237SGR2017. Additional online materials for this article are available at https://osf.io/gcshk/.
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