Caveat emptor: Scan quality of Elsevier's digital backfile PDF collection

Scans of journal articles originally published in print, otherwise known as digital journal backfiles, benefit library patrons by providing near instantaneous access to important older information and full-text searchability. Digital backfiles can serve as a reliable surrogate for their corresponding print journals which could be removed from the library, freeing up space for other patron services. Both benefits are realized when the scanned articles are of sufficient clarity to replace the print versions. Several studies have analyzed small and subject-narrow sections of Elsevier's digital backfile. This article contains a scan-quality analysis from 1578 journals that contain nearly four million articles and represents a significant portion of Elsevier's entire digital journal backfile. We divided journals into three categories and five discipline-specific classifications and compared them by logistic regression for differences in scan quality. Approximately 4.2 % of the articles analyzed contained illegible text, tables, or figures. This data may inform a library's acquisition, retention and space-planning decisions that in turn will affect a patron's access to and use of electronic journal articles.     

Scatter and obsolescence of journals cited in theses and dissertations of librarianship

This article analyzes the bibliometric features (the number of pages, completion years, the fields of subject, the number of citations, and their distribution by types of sources and years) of 100 theses and dissertations completed at the Department of Librarianship of Hacettepe University between 1974 and 2002. Almost a quarter (24%) of all dissertations were on university libraries, followed by public libraries (9%). Doctoral dissertations were, on average, twice as long as master's theses and contained 2.5 times more citations. Monographs received more citations (50%) than journal articles did (42%). Recently completed theses and dissertations contained more citations to electronic publications. Fourteen (or 3.2% of all) journal titles (including Türk Kütüphaneciliği, College & Research Libraries, and Journal of the American Society for Information Science) received almost half (48.9%) of all citations. Eighty percent of journal titles were cited infrequently. No correlation was found between the frequency of citations of the most frequently cited journals and their impact factors. Cited journal titles in master's and doctoral theses and dissertations overlapped significantly. Similarly, journal titles cited in dissertations also overlapped significantly with those that were cited in the journal articles published in the professional literature. The distribution of citations to foreign journal titles fit Bradford's Law of Scattering. The mean half-life of all cited sources was 9 years. Sources cited in master's dissertations were relatively more current. Single authorship was the norm in cited resources. Coupled with in-library use data, findings of the present study can be used to identify the core journal titles in librarianship as well as to evaluate the existing library collections to decide which journal titles to keep, discard, or relegate to off-site storage areas.     

生活精彩，工作才能精彩 ——18年编辑生涯感悟

由于科技期刊工作的特点,长期从事科技期刊编辑工作容易出现焦虑、厌倦、淡漠情绪。认为:科技期刊编辑只有生活精彩,工作才能精彩。应保持生活的激情、思维的活力、怡情的爱好、写作的热情和优雅的形象。只要热爱生活,就能保持工作的动力与创意的源泉,灵感与思路、热情与干劲,让编辑工作在快乐愉悦中完成,实现自我效能的最佳发挥。     

《吴医汇讲》:中国第一份中文期刊

为了澄清究竟哪本期刊是中国第一份中文期刊,我们通过追根溯源,梳理中国期刊发端的史实,否定了某些人宣称的200年前由外国传教士在马来西亚创办的《察世俗每月统记传》为中国第一份中文期刊的主张,以雄辩的史料确认:223年前由国人在苏州创办的《吴医汇讲》才是名副其实的中国第一份中文期刊.     

Journals at bepress: new twists on an old model

In recent years academic journal publishers have explored a variety of new business models. The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress), founded by professors in 1999, now publishes 39 electronic‐only journals. bepress's own model rests on three principles: improve, but do not break, the traditional journal; allow non‐subscribers to read articles as guests; and offer reasonable and sustainable prices to libraries. This model has resulted in steady growth. Even in the shifting landscape of open access, there remains a place for professional journal publishers who offer innovative improvements, traditionally qualified content, and reasonable prices.     

Bibliometric Analysis as a Tool in Journal Evaluation

A new formula for establishing the relationship between the number of papers (n) published in a journal of physics, chemistry or biology and the rank (R) of the journal concerned is proposed. The new formula is straightforward and simple, and appears to lead to a reasonably accurate prediction of the number of published source items in a journal, provided the rank of the journal is known. The proposed formula may be considered as a modification of or alternative to Bradford's law.     

从来稿基本信息着手发现学术不端的线索

在国内目前论文造假现象比较严重的情况下,科技期刊不得不付出大量的心血用于防范学术不端文献的发表。本文作者在工作中偶然遇到因作者所留电话号码归属地与作者单位不一致而发现的代写代投论文这一事实,总结出代写代投论文的稿件基本信息的一些特点,为编辑同人从论文基本信息入手发现学术不端的线索提供参考,并再次呼吁编辑同行提高防范学术不端论文的警惕性,当好学术出版的守门人。     

专业学术期刊与学科发展相辅相成

专业学术期刊是某一专门学科领域的学术交流平台。学术期刊的发展依赖于学科的发展,而学术期刊又引领着学科的发展方向,促进学科的人才培养和成长,补充和完善相关学科的教材,对学科建设的作用不容忽视,二者互相促进,相辅相成。     

国外生物医学期刊:审稿人选择的研究及启示

学术论文的发表极其依赖于高质量的同行评议,尽管同行评议不尽善尽美,但能帮助作者提高论文的写作水平以及编辑人员的编辑水平。研究发现,对审稿质量做出最佳贡献的预测因素包括是否为大学附属医院工作的审稿人或研究生毕业10年内的年轻人。目前进一步改善审稿方法的效果很有限,因此有专家建议对审稿人进行正规培训。期刊及其编辑在选择审稿人时,要考虑他们具备何种知识和技能,是否有丰富的审稿经验。这有助于期刊编辑出版单位选择到合适的审稿人,并提高审稿质量。     

The economics of scholarly journals: a case study on a society‐published journal

This article re‐examines the economics of publishing scholarly journals and illustrates the dilemma of publisher identity and publication format with a case study of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's Media Management and Economics division. The study investigates the perceived interest and demand for a society‐published journal for the field of media management and economics and the preferred format for that journal – print or online. Results showed a divided opinion on the support of a society‐published journal and no consideration of the benefits or harms of journal publishing to the society. The print journal, though a desirable format for authors, is deemed uneconomical. The online journal is viewed as a feasible publication outlet, but its status as a prestigious journal is doubtful. Applications of scholarly journal publishing and economic models to the case are discussed.     

Web-based Citation Management Tools: Comparing the Accuracy of Their Electronic Journal Citations

Many students struggle when citing sources in their research papers and have turned to web-based citation tools in increasing numbers. In order to test the accuracy of the citations generated by these products, a sample of student-selected electronic journal articles was collected and MLA and APA citations for these articles were created using EBSCO Discovery Service's Cite tool, EndNote Basic, RefWorks, and Zotero. Although EndNote Basic, RefWorks and Zotero's APA citation error rates were significantly lower than that of EBSCO Discovery Service, none of the programs was capable of generating an error-free MLA electronic journal citation.     

Measuring contextual citation impact of scientific journals

This paper explores a new indicator of journal citation impact, denoted as source normalized impact per paper (SNIP). It measures a journal's contextual citation impact, taking into account characteristics of its properly defined subject field, especially the frequency at which authors cite other papers in their reference lists, the rapidity of maturing of citation impact, and the extent to which a database used for the assessment covers the field's literature. It further develops Eugene Garfield's notions of a field's ‘citation potential’ defined as the average length of references lists in a field and determining the probability of being cited, and the need in fair performance assessments to correct for differences between subject fields. A journal's subject field is defined as the set of papers citing that journal. SNIP is defined as the ratio of the journal's citation count per paper and the citation potential in its subject field. It aims to allow direct comparison of sources in different subject fields. Citation potential is shown to vary not only between journal subject categories – groupings of journals sharing a research field – or disciplines (e.g., journals in mathematics, engineering and social sciences tend to have lower values than titles in life sciences), but also between journals within the same subject category. For instance, basic journals tend to show higher citation potentials than applied or clinical journals, and journals covering emerging topics higher than periodicals in classical subjects or more general journals. SNIP corrects for such differences. Its strengths and limitations are critically discussed, and suggestions are made for further research. All empirical results are derived from Elsevier's Scopus.     

The archiving of online journals

The present lack of trusted archiving of electronic periodicals is probably one of the main factors preventing a faster move away from the printed journal. This article considers – from a publisher's and a librarian's perspective – all aspects of the electronic archiving, from what should be archived, to who should carry out the archiving.     

Growth and nature of international LIS research: An analysis of two journals

The study explores the publication trends of scholarly journal articles in two core Library and Information Science (LIS) journals indexed under ScienceDirect Database during the period for the period 2000–2010, and for the “Top 25 Hottest Papers” for 2006–2010. It examines and presents an analysis of 1000 research papers in the area of LIS published in two journals: The International Information & Library Review (IILR) and Library & Information Science Research (LISR). The study examines the content of the journals, including growth of the literature, authorship patterns, geographical distributions of authors, distribution of papers by journal, citation pattern, ranking pattern, length of articles, and most cited authors. Collaboration was calculated using Subramanyam's formula, and Lotka's law was used to identify authors' productivity. The results indicated that authors' distributions did not follow Lotka's law. The study identified the eight most productive authors with a high of 19 publications in this field. The findings indicate that these publications experienced rapid and exponential growth in literature production. The contributions by scientists from India are examined.     

Citation Behavior of Undergraduate Students: A Study of History,Political Science,and Sociology Papers

The goal of this analysis was to obtain local citation behavior data on undergraduates researching history, political science, and sociology papers. The study found that students cited books and journals even with the availability of web sources; however, usage varied by subject. References to specific websites' domains also varied across subject area. Most of the top journal titles that students referenced were online and locally owned. Students cited a broader range of journal titles than predicted by the Law of Scattering and cited titles across a wide array of subject areas. This data helped identify potential gaps in the library's collection and services.     

Growth and nature of international LIS research: An analysis of two journals

The study explores the publication trends of scholarly journal articles in two core Library and Information Science (LIS) journals indexed under ScienceDirect Database during the period for the period 2000–2010, and for the “Top 25 Hottest Papers” for 2006–2010. It examines and presents an analysis of 1000 research papers in the area of LIS published in two journals: The International Information & Library Review (IILR) and Library & Information Science Research (LISR). The study examines the content of the journals, including growth of the literature, authorship patterns, geographical distributions of authors, distribution of papers by journal, citation pattern, ranking pattern, length of articles, and most cited authors. Collaboration was calculated using Subramanyam's formula, and Lotka's law was used to identify authors' productivity. The results indicated that authors' distributions did not follow Lotka's law. The study identified the eight most productive authors with a high of 19 publications in this field. The findings indicate that these publications experienced rapid and exponential growth in literature production. The contributions by scientists from India are examined.     

TheScientificWorldJOURNAL: sustainability through innovation

How can a new publisher and new publication survive in today's climate, where ‘Big Deal’ bundling arrangements and cuts in library budgets are squeezing out smaller publishers and publications? That is a key question for TheScientificWorldJOURNAL. The Journal's innovative editorial approaches together with a new business model combine to present part of the answer, and enable a new journal to make a significant difference.     

论科技期刊编辑话语权

科技期刊编辑的话语权是期刊话语权的重要组成部分。科技期刊编辑在工作中存在话语权过度和不足的现象。例如审稿环节,从3方面剖析编辑话语权失度对期刊的不利影响。认为编辑必须拥有适度的话语权,在网络平台背景下,应改变编辑传统单一的话语权模式,融入多元素,多视角地构建编辑科学的话语权平台。     

中国高校科技期刊百年史回顾与前瞻

对晚清以来(1889—2013年)125年间高等学校主办的科技期刊发展历史作系统研究。认为:上海圣约翰大学清光绪十五年(1889年)创刊的《约翰声》(The St.John’s University Echo)标志着中国高等学校文理综合性学报的诞生,比传统认识(1906年的《学桴》)前推了17年。目前,精品科技期刊战略和特色期刊战略将引领新的发展方向。