A new approach to the metric of journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR indicator

A size-independent indicator of journals’ scientific prestige, the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator, is proposed that ranks scholarly journals based on citation weighting schemes and eigenvector centrality. It is designed for use with complex and heterogeneous citation networks such as Scopus. Its computation method is described, and the results of its implementation on the Scopus 2007 dataset is compared with those of an ad hoc Journal Impact Factor, JIF(3y), both generally and within specific scientific areas. Both the SJR indicator and the JIF distributions were found to fit well to a logarithmic law. While the two metrics were strongly correlated, there were also major changes in rank. In addition, two general characteristics were observed. On the one hand, journals’ scientific influence or prestige as computed by the SJR indicator tended to be concentrated in fewer journals than the quantity of citation measured by JIF(3y). And on the other, the distance between the top-ranked journals and the rest tended to be greater in the SJR ranking than in that of the JIF(3y), while the separation between the middle and lower ranked journals tended to be smaller.     

A further step forward in measuring journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR2 indicator

A new size-independent indicator of scientific journal prestige, the SJR2 indicator, is proposed. This indicator takes into account not only the prestige of the citing scientific journal but also its closeness to the cited journal using the cosine of the angle between the vectors of the two journals’ cocitation profiles. To eliminate the size effect, the accumulated prestige is divided by the fraction of the journal's citable documents, thus eliminating the decreasing tendency of this type of indicator and giving meaning to the scores. Its method of computation is described, and the results of its implementation on the Scopus 2008 dataset is compared with those of an ad hoc Journal Impact Factor, JIF(3y), and SNIP, the comparison being made both overall and within specific scientific areas. All three, the SJR2 indicator, the SNIP indicator and the JIF distributions, were found to fit well to a logarithmic law. Although the three metrics were strongly correlated, there were major changes in rank. In addition, the SJR2 was distributed more equalized than the JIF by Subject Area and almost as equalized as the SNIP, and better than both at the lower level of Specific Subject Areas. The incorporation of the cosine increased the values of the flows of prestige between thematically close journals.     

Measuring Issue-specific and Generic Frames in the Media’s Coverage of the Steroids Issue in Baseball

This study explored frames in the coverage of the steroids issue in baseball through a content analysis of traditional and new media. Using issue-specific and generic frames, it proposed a hybrid measurement tool that combines both approaches. Findings of the principal component analysis indicate the media framed the steroids issue primarily in terms of conflict and policy. Significant differences emerged between traditional and new media, on the one hand, and between the news and sports media, on the other. Besides these frames, the media also presented the steroids story as a public opinion and morality issue, using organizational officials, the public, and the media to convey these frames.     

Do Article Influence scores overestimate the citation impact of social science journals in subfields that are related to higher-impact natural science disciplines?

Unlike Impact Factors (IF), Article Influence (AI) scores assign greater weight to citations that appear in highly cited journals. The natural sciences tend to have higher citation rates than the social sciences. We might therefore expect that relative to IF, AI overestimates the citation impact of social science journals in subfields that are related to (and presumably cited in) higher-impact natural science disciplines. This study evaluates that assertion through a set of simple and multiple regressions covering seven social science disciplines: anthropology, communication, economics, education, library and information science, psychology, and sociology. Contrary to expectations, AI underestimates 5IF (five-year Impact Factor) for journals in science-related subfields such as scientific communication, science education, scientometrics, biopsychology, and medical sociology. Journals in these subfields have low AI scores relative to their 5IF values. Moreover, the effect of science-related status is considerable—typically 0.60 5IF units or 0.50 SD. This effect is independent of the more general finding that AI scores underestimate 5IF for higher-impact journals. It is also independent of the very modest curvilinearity in the relationship between AI and 5IF.     

Where are citations located in the body of scientific articles? A study of the distributions of citation locations

We address issues concerning what one may learn from how citation instances are distributed in scientific articles. We visualize and analyze patterns of citation distributions in the full text of 350 articles published in the Journal of Informetrics. In particular, we visualize and analyze the distributions of citations in articles that are organized in a commonly seen four-section structure, namely, introduction, method, results, and conclusions (IMRC). We examine the locations of citations to the groundbreaking h-index paper by Hirsch in 2005 and how patterns associated with citation locations evolve over time. The results show that citations are highly concentrated in the first section of an article. The density of citations in the first section is about three times higher than that in subsequent sections. The distributions of citations to highly cited papers are even more uneven.     

Rankings of a university’s web sites on the Internet

One of the methods for the evaluation of web sites, viz., evaluation ranking, is considered. The advantages and disadvantages of this evaluation method are analyzed. The largest ranking system for the evaluation of a university web sites, Webometrics, is analyzed in detail. The causes of low rankings of the web sites of Russian universities are studied. The value of a department website as an important structural unit forming the university portal is substantiated.     

Diversity’s discontents: in search of an archive of the oppressed

ABSTRACT

Australian and US-based archivists have recently begun to confront their complicity in a documentary landscape that excludes and erases the voices and views of minority, oppressed and poor communities. Archival professional organisations in both countries attempt to confront this issue by focusing on the homogeneity of the profession, specifically through using the discourse of diversity. Thus, this keynote address, delivered at the 2017 conference of the Australian Society of Archivists in Melbourne, explores the following question: how, if at all, does diversity form part of the solution for dismantling the white supremacy of archives? It begins this inquiry by recounting the author’s participation and experience with diversity projects of the Society of American Archivists, before speculating how archivists might transition away from the language of diversity and towards the language of liberation through the concept of an archive of the oppressed. The central argument of the address is that dismantling white supremacy in archives requires archivists abandon the neoliberal discourse of diversity and adopt an archive of the oppressed, or a cooperative approach in which oppressed peoples are positioned as subjects in our own liberation.     

Using Scopus’s CiteScore for assessing the quality of computer science conferences

Publication, hiring, promotion, tenure, and funding decisions in computer science often depend on an accurate assessment of the quality of conferences. This study reviews relevant literature and tests Scopus’s CiteScore database and method for evaluating the quality of 395 conferences in the field.The study identifies 154 conferences that match the CiteScore ranges of the top quartile journals. These 154 conferences make up 30% of all 515 top quartile publication venues in computer science, confirming the notion that publishing in conference proceedings—especially top rated ones—are as important and influential as publishing in top journals. The CiteScore method as implemented here shows that it is highly effective as a benchmark to evaluate and compare publication venues in computer science. Scopus, however, needs to enhance several of its indexing practices before the CiteScore database and method can become standard tools for conference quality assessment.     

Making a difference? Measuring the impact of an information literacy programme for pre-registration nursing students in the UK

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether an information literacy programme for pre-registration nursing students at a UK higher education institution is effective in developing their skills and confidence: examines students' skill levels, factors affecting their confidence, and relationships between skills, confidence and demographic characteristics. METHODS: Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used: pre- and post-tests to measure changes in students' skills and self-assessed confidence levels after two key sessions in their first semester (n = 29); semi-structured interviews to explore factors affecting confidence (n = 5). RESULTS: Findings demonstrated positive impacts on skills and confidence. Key areas of skill development included: identifying journal articles, selecting search terms and evaluating website quality. Factors affecting confidence included: successful 'mastery' experiences in searching for information and the programme itself, especially small-group sessions, handouts and staff support. Evidence on links between skills, confidence and demographic factors was inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated the programme's effectiveness and identified areas for development, including the need to help students understand the relative merits of search engines and other sources. Evidence has contributed to a change in departmental policy, making attendance at sessions mandatory. Further studies have been recommended.     

Amazon’s Day One in China: The Role of Amazon’s Kindle in China

After the long-standing effort and negotiations, Amazon finally released its two Kindle products in China since it entered China 9 years ago. Some say Kindle as it plays as a Catfish would stir up China’s e-book reading market, while the others say Kindle has missed the best timing to enter the market. The article describes the Kindle’s current status in China digital publishing arena, exploring the consistent Amazon strategies in China e-commerce market, and analyzing its threats and opportunities coming from four aspects in the long run, policy, content, willingness-to-pay and competition.     

Muslim Women’s Use of Internet Media in the Process of Acculturation in the United States

This study examines how Muslim women use Internet-based media in the process of acculturation in the United States. Grounded theory methodology (Glaser, 1992) and Sam and Berry’s (2006) model of acculturation were used as theoretical and analytical frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Muslim women to learn about their media use and experiences in forming and maintaining relationships in the United States. Educational opportunities were an emerging theme in the determining factors of immigrating to the United States. The data indicated that Muslim women use a variety of Internet-based media such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber for communicating with family and friends locally and abroad. A majority of the participants reported that social media allowed them to express a part of their identities. The data suggests that the participants attained the level of acculturation defined as integration. The participants use these media to build and create relationships in their new communities. The combined relationships the participants maintain both locally and abroad seem to play a role in the creation of balance in their lives, which allows them to thrive in their new communities, at school, and at work.     

The impact of health information delivery on the quality of patient care: whither medical information science?*

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Effect of cooperation between Chinese scientific journals and international publishers on journals’ impact factor

Growing cooperation between Chinese journals and international publishers invites an investigation of the effect of this cooperation, based on an analysis of journal IF changes. Data from 23 Chinese academic journals were chosen from about 50 English-language academic journals indexed by SCI or SCIE and with a long history of cooperation. The data do not suggest that cooperation has improved the journals’ IF thus far. It appears that cooperation is generally limited to international distribution, and this has a weak influence on the quality of the journal and its IF, even though the papers can be accessed by worldwide users through publishers’ international distribution networks. Cooperation with international publishers is one step, but actively working on the quality of the journals is a more important step.