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LIS journals categorization in the Journal Citation Report: a stated preference study

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Abstract

This stated preference study approached the issue on sub-categorization of the information science–library science (IS–LS) journals listed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) 2011. To investigate this, 243 active authors/editors publishing in this field were requested to indicate their preferred category to 83 journal titles listed in JCR 2011 from four options: information science (IS), library science (LS), information systems (ISys) and do not know/undecided. Based on the popularity count, respondents assigned 39 titles to LS, 23 titles to IS and 21 titles to ISys. Twenty-five titles received high “do-not-know” counts—these are titles in non-English languages, information management and publishing sub-fields. Only one title in LS was grouped in the highest quartile by impact factor, compared to 8 titles in IS and 11 in ISys. This indicates that LS journals are hardly represented among the top 25 % of the impact factor distribution of JCR’s ranked IS–LS journals. Respondents show concern about the “fit” of information systems journals in the IS–LS category.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (HIR-MOHE) UM.C/HIR/MOHE/FCSIT/H22001/00B00011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    A. Abrizah, A. Noorhidawati & A. N. Zainab

  2. Malaysian Citation Centre, Ministry of Education Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia

    A. Abrizah

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  1. A. Abrizah
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  2. A. Noorhidawati
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  3. A. N. Zainab
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Correspondence to A. Abrizah.

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Abrizah, A., Noorhidawati, A. & Zainab, A.N. LIS journals categorization in the Journal Citation Report: a stated preference study. Scientometrics 102, 1083–1099 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1492-3

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