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.     

What satisfactions do self‐publishing authors gain from the process?

This paper, a follow‐up to our previous Learned Publishing paper ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20130310 ), extends the reporting of new research into the motivations, demographics, processes, and outcomes of self‐publishing authors. The research findings challenge traditionally held notions about the lack of satisfaction in either the process or final product in self‐publishing. By contrast, the authors researched emerged as very satisfied with the process of self‐publishing, likely to do it again and recommend it to others – and these trends were observed across all the demographic categories and types of content. The generally high rate of republishing among the cohort can be taken as further evidence of associated satisfaction. The research offers conclusions that are relevant to all stakeholders in publishing and provides a foundation for more specific research within particular publishing sectors and roles.     

The future of academic publishing: Revolution or evolution?

Key points

• Concerns about a crisis in monograph publishing date back to at least the 1990s, and for traditional journal publishing at least a decade.
• Two key trends behind concerns over book and journal models are pressures on funding and the emergence of open access.
• Despite predictions of a revolution, the academic publishing sector has proved remarkably resilient in adapting to market changes.
• Whilst showing some support for ‘open science’, even early career researchers remain committed to traditional publishing models.
• The growth in scholarly collaboration networks and in sharing across traditional boundaries is the more likely disrupter of traditional publishing.

     

Managing rights: The core of every future publishing business?

A surprisingly large proportion of publishers believe that their businesses will move over the next five years from the creation, marketing and distribution of physical products toward the management of rights and royalties. Neither the industry nor individual publishers are ready for such a transition. Although publishing is and has been a rights business, few publishers methodically manage the rights that they own or control in ways that fully reflect this. If the future lies in rights management, publishers’ systems will need to develop rapidly to accommodate new demands that this will place on them. Address for correspondence     

From the media of the periphery to peripheral media: The changing priorities of Brazil’s alternative ecology

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a new appraisal of Brazil’s alternative media. By investing in the concept of the periphery, this study draws on past literature, semistructured interviews, and data collected from across the country (n = 50) to propose a repertoire analysis of media producers’ views of the country’s popular notion of the periphery. Evidence shows that they have shown nuanced views of the periphery as a site of purpose, pluralism, and authorship. Despite crisis and turmoil, this study presents some paths that could help reorientate the priorities of alternative media research toward a closer consideration of the periphery as entity that appears much more in line with local realities and expectations than previous international debates.     

The Librarian’s Contribution to Continuing Medical Education

At many hospitals, including Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) University Hospital Rahway, librarians facilitate continuing medical education (CME) programs, sometimes working in that capacity as much as in their traditional librarian functions such as reference, research, cataloging, and bibliographic instruction. This column traces the relationship between the two aspects of the RWJ Rahway’s CME coordinator and health sciences librarian’s job to demonstrate that, because of their duties and skills, medical librarians can meaningfully contribute to hospitals’ CME programs. The worlds of librarianship and CME are further connected by the same goal: the dissemination of information.     

Navigating OER: The Library’s Role in Bringing OER to Campus

In 2014, three librarians at the University of San Diego came together to explore open educational resources (OER). Coming from both technical services and digital collections, we were well-versed in the economic challenges facing today’s libraries. In order to formulate the approach that would work best for our campus, we first had to educate ourselves on the past, present, and possible future of the Open Access movement. While traditionally Open Access has focused on serials, OER offer the opportunity to expand its benefits to other formats. This article examines opportunities and tensions surrounding OER, as well as highlighting major players on the OER landscape. Our efforts began with a focus group for faculty to assess their own knowledge of and opinions on OER. After establishing a stipend budget, we sent out a call for proposals to faculty who were interested in participating in the Copley OER Initiative.     

Undervaluing Mutual: The FCC’s Missed Opportunity to Restructure Radio Broadcasting in the New Deal Era

This article reexamines the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation into monopoly practices by the “chain” or network radio broadcasters in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The FCC targeted NBC and CBS and eventually succeeded in forcing NBC to sell its Blue radio network. But the Commission ultimately failed to prevent network domination of affiliates. I argue that the Commission missed an opportunity to recognize that the Mutual Broadcasting System offered an alternative, cooperative model for organization of the industry that could have better served the FCC’s goals of harnessing the power of chain broadcasting and promoting localism in broadcasting.     

What’s next?: the LGBTQ video game archive

This essay describes the author’s new project: a digital archive documenting the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games. The LGBTQ game archive covers approximately 30 decades of game content at present, and nearly 500 games. This essay describes the project’s origins, the methods used to research the game content, and some initial findings. Finally, some particular surprises from the project are discussed, which point to areas for future LGBTQ games research.     

A ‘powerful,creative history’: the reticence of women architects to donate their professional records to archival repositories

The article reports the findings from research investigating the impact of international standards for records management. This is a significant issue for the recordkeeping community given the significant resourcing devoted to the development of international standards. Previous attempts to measure impact have met with little success, so this research approached the problem area from a new angle, namely the indirect influence of standards on practice via their use in education and training. Data was collected from a global survey of educators and trainers. Findings demonstrate that the standards are being used extensively at undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as in vocational training. However, a number of barriers to use are identified. The research provides a strong foundation for further investigation of impact and use of the international standards.     

The Library: Big Data’s Boomtown

Since 2012, nearly every sector has developed a fascination with the seemingly new discovery of Big Data and its unprecedented capabilities to fuel analytic breakthroughs. It is clear that the use of Big Data as an information resource will continue to become more prevalent as it is employed in academic research and data-driven decision making, and even emerges as a vehicle for government transparency. This article reviews the emergence and potentials of Big Data, describes the policies fueling the current data surge, and discusses the impact on libraries. As libraries evolve to provide more data services, there is an opportunity for librarians to become experts and authorities in the data age.     

The bibliometric quotient (BQ), or how to measure a researcher’s performance capacity: A Bayesian Poisson Rasch model

Regarding evaluation of individual researchers, the bibliometric indicators approach has been increasingly discussed recently, but there are some problems involved with it: construct definition, measurement errors, level of scale, dimensionality, normalization. Based on a psychometric model, the Rasch model, we developed a measuring scale for the theoretical construct ‘researcher’s performance capacity,’ defined as the competency of a researcher to write influential papers. The aim was a scale that is one-dimensional and continuous, is applicable to bibliometric count variables, and takes measurement errors into account. In this paper we present the psychometric model (Bayesian Poisson Rasch model, BPR) and its assumptions and examine the behavior of the model under various sampling conditions. For a sample of N?=?254 researchers in a quantitative methodology section of an undisclosed German academic society for social sciences, using the BPR model we developed a scale that we named ‘Bibliometric Quotient’ (BQ, M?=?100, SD?=?15) (following the term ‘intelligence quotient’). The scale fulfills most of the test-theoretical requirements (e.g., high reliability α_t?=?.96, no differential item functioning except for academic age and German states) and in addition allows researchers to be ranked. Women’s BQ scores were 8.3 points lower on the scale than men’s BQ scores.