Assessing the Impact of Australian Journals in the

Social Sciences and Humanities

Paul Genoni, Gaby Haddow & Petra Dumbell

Curtin University of Technology

Why?

ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia)

- use of citations as a measure of impact

- journal ranking

Competitors to Web of Science citation indexes

- Scopus (Elsevier)

- Google Scholar (& Publish or Perish)

A little background

Using citations and (Thomson’s) Journal Impact Factors

- coverage and relevance to social sciences & humanities

Journal ranking

- metrics vs peer review

Journal ranking for ERA

Tiers – A*, A, B, C

Ranking by disciplinary groups

Final list ~ 19,500 titles against FoRs

Alternative rankings

By …

• Extended impact factor (6 years)

• h-index

• Journal Diffusion (by citations and articles)

The journals

Published from 2001

Active, refereed, and Australian

Excluded: non-SS & H, annuals, newsletters/professional publications

The subset of journals

Abacus

Archaeology in Oceania

Architectural Science Rev

Aust J of Career Development

Aust J of Education

Bull of Indonesian Economic Studies

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Ed

Distance Education

Geographical Research

Higher Education Research & Development

Just Policy

Oceania

Singapore J of Tropical Geography

Teaching Education

Total citations

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Abacu

s

Arch

in O

cean

Arch

Sci Rev

Aus J

Car D

ev

Aus J

Ed

Bull In

d Ec

Stud

Discou

rse

Dist E

d

Geog

Res

Higher

Ed

Just

Policy

Ocean

ia

Sing J

Trop

Geo

g

Teach

ing

Ed

Journals

Cit

ati

on

s WoS

Scopus

PoP

Extended impact factor

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Abacu

s

Arch i

n Oce

an

Arch S

ci Rev

Aus J

Car

Dev

Aus J

Ed

Bull In

d Ec S

tud

Discour

se

Dist E

d

Geog

Res

Highe

r Ed

Just

Policy

Ocean

ia

Sing J

Trop G

eog

Teach

ing E

d

Journals

Imp

ac

t WoS

Scopus

PoP

h-index

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Journals

h-i

nd

ex

Wos

Scopus

PoP

Impact and h-index(frequency in top 4 ranking)

Impact No. h-index No.

B Indonesian Economic St 2 B Indonesian Economic St 2

Sing J Tropical Geography 2 Sing J Tropical Geography 2

Higher Ed R & D* 2

Geographical Research 1 Geographical Research 1

Archaeology in Oceania* 1 Discourse 1

Distance Education 1

Architectural Science Rev 1

Aust J Education 1

Oceania 1

Diffusion (by citations)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Abacu

s

Arch

in O

cean

Arch

Sci Rev

Aus J

Car D

ev

Aus J

Ed

Bull In

d Ec

Stud

Discou

rse

Dist E

d

Geog

Res

Higher

Ed

Just

Policy

Ocean

ia

Sing J

Trop

Geo

g

Teach

ing

Ed

Journals

Dif

fus

ion

(c

ita

tio

ns

)

WoS

Scopus

Diffusion (by articles)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Abacu

s

Arch

in Oce

an

Arch

Sci Rev

Aus J

Car D

ev

Aus J

Ed

Bull In

d Ec S

tud

Discou

rse

Dist E

d

Geog R

es

Higher

Ed

Just

Policy

Ocean

ia

Sing J

Trop

Geo

g

Teach

ing E

d

Journals

Dif

fusi

on

(ar

ticl

es)

WoS

Scopus

ERA & alternative rankings

ERArank

Journals Totalcites

Impact h-index

W S W S W S

A* Australian J of Education 4 5 3 4 3 1

A* Higher Education 1 3 1 1 2 -

B Distance Education 2 2 2 2 1 2

B Teaching Education 3 1 5 3 3 3

C Australian J of Career Development

5 4 3 4 5 -

Discussion

• Citation data & sources

• Australian journals

• Peer ranking

• Implications for librarians