Abstract
A study undertaken in 1996 of Australia"s performance in the high impact journals of a few selected fields of science has produced empirical data for examining the factors that influence peers in their choice of the "highly-rated" journals in their field. A number of characteristics were used to compare the selected journals with those having the highest impact factor, as listed in ISI"s Journal Citation Reports. This paper ranked journals on three impact factors – ISI"s impact factor for two consecutive years, and one calculated for a five-year window. The data suggests that the type of impact measure was less important in journal selection than the long-term validity of the rankings. A group of experts was less likely to include journals that were only highly ranked for a short period in their "top 20". Of the more descriptive journal characteristics analysed, the age of the journal appeared significant. Their selections also appeared biased against journals that were relatively new, regardless of how high their impact factor was.
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References
Bourke P., L. Butler (1993), A Crisis for Australian Science? Performance Indicators Project Monograph Series No.1, Australian National University, Canberra.
Grigg L. (1996), The Impact of Australian Science, Discussion paper, The Australian Academy of Science, September.
http://www.ulrichsweb.com/UlrichsWeb/, Ulrich's Periodical Directory
National Board of Employment Education and Training (NBEET), Research Performance Indicators Survey, Commissioned Report No. 21, NBEET, Canberra, January 1993.
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Butler, L. Identifying "highly-rated" journals - an Australian case study. Scientometrics 53, 207–227 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014852424715
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014852424715