Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging Resource

Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging Resource

Roberta K. Weber, Ethan J. Allen

portal: Libraries and the Academy, Volume 14, Number 1, January2013, pp. 5-22 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press

For additional information about this article

Access provided by Lomonosov Moscow State University (11 Jan 2014 07:22 GMT)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pla/summary/v014/14.1.weber.html

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pla/summary/v014/14.1.weber.html

Roberta K. Weber and Ethan J. Allen 5

portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2014), pp. 5–22. Copyright © 2013 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging ResourceRoberta K. Weber and Ethan J. Allen

abstract: This longitudinal study investigates the journal selections of 367 graduate students as they worked to fulfill a commonly assigned, criteria-based literature search on educational topics. The criteria called for evidence-based studies, published within the current ten years of course enrollment, within peer-reviewed journals. Student references were evaluated, but investigation revealed that students succeeded only partially in meeting the criteria. Two hundred ninety-nine journal titles used most commonly have resulted in a list that identified peer review status and research content characteristics for each title. The findings suggest new opportunities to improve library resources, instruction, and student achievement.

Researching Educational Trends and Issues

Graduate programs across the social science spectrum include numerous courses that require a fundamental literature-searching activity. In education, students investigating current educational trends and issues may be directed to qualita-

tive or quantitative research studies but may also enter the search process with limited guidance. Information resources available to students are rich and plentiful, and although graduate students bring considerable search-ing experience and feel a level of satisfaction with their indepen-dently developed retrieval skills, they may still have novice skills in some component of the process.1 Whether currently enrolled or re-turning after an extended absence from academe, students will encounter new barriers associated with software innovations, and the developments affecting pathways to digital collections will likely encumber the search process. These difficulties may discourage

In education, students investigating cur-rent educational trends and issues may be directed to qualitative or quantitative research studies but may also enter the search process with limited guidance.

Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging Resource6

graduate students from finding research evidence within the literature, and they may turn instead to opinion-based alternatives, leaving the impression that their searching proficiencies fall short. The purpose of the present study is twofold: to increase aware-ness of graduate student searching behaviors and to provide a resource designed to strengthen student success.

One aspect of professional preparation for the graduate student population in almost any area of concentration, whether seeking a masters or doctoral degree, includes the search and analysis processes of research studies. In today’s virtual learning environment, where journals exist as digital objects and are accessed from anywhere, students conduct

many searches remotely, without the direct assistance of librarians. Further, students may enroll in a course delivered in a classroom, in a blended environment that combines classroom and online instruction, or completely online. Whatever the means of delivery, a critical activity courses share

in common is the electronically mediated information search process (ISP). Carol C. Kuhlthau summarized the various cognitive, affective, and physical activities that search-ers experience within this process.2 The stages of the ISP frame the search process such that sources are distinguished and evaluated prior to their selection and consequent use.

Academic libraries invest in a plethora of costly journal and database subscription packages, which effectively vet content to meet the demand for scholarly materials on educational topics. Internet search engines also provide scholarly content as portals to an increasing number of open-access journals, which make some or all of their articles available to the public free of charge. The amount of content available may, however, effectively overwhelm students, unless specific criteria are provided to narrow the number and type of sources to search and studies to select. The present longitudinal study confined the ISP within three narrow requirements: (1) journal articles published within the last ten years; (2) studies showing quantitative or qualitative findings; and (3) publications having peer-reviewed status. These criteria were chosen to help students make distinctions between opinion-based articles and evidence derived from appropriate research methods. If these criteria are applied throughout the search process, the expec-tation is that student application of critical thinking skills coupled with an investment of time will result in judicious selections of data-driven research.

Research Questions

The study addressed two research questions: 1. What are the most commonly selected journals referenced by graduate students

when conducting a literature search on educational topics?2. What percentage of journals containing qualitative or quantitative studies are ref-

erenced by graduate students when conducting literature searches on educational topics?

In today’s virtual learning environment, where journals exist as digital objects and are accessed from anywhere, students conduct many searches remotely, without the direct assistance of librarians.


Review of the Literature

Studies published within the last ten years that focus upon graduate students and their relationships to libraries fall within three defined areas: (1) students’ competence and the barriers they face; (2) instructional concerns of faculty-librarian collaboration and delivery strategies; and (3) collection assessment and organization (Kathleen M. T. Collins and Robin E. Veal, Rosemary Green and Mary Bowser, Rachel Fleming-May and Lisa Yuro, David N. Boote and Penny Beile, Hannah Gascho Rempel, and Laurel A. Haycock).3

These studies were not limited to education topics, and little has been published with respect to educational journal selection by graduate students. More specifically, treat-ment of the student use of articles on current educational trends and issues resulting in journal listings is nonexistent, particularly when students are provided the following selection criteria: (1) qualitative or quantitative studies; (2) not older than ten years; and (3) published in peer-reviewed journals. Studies producing educational journal lists, though few in number, addressed two main categories: those intending to rank journal titles and those informing collection development decisions.

Ranking

Five studies listing educational journals were designed to rank the quality of publications. Foundational research by Nancy Patricia O’Brien targeted the significance of qualified titles for ranking, identifying thirty-four of them as “journals of the century” that have “demonstrated longevity and significant contributions to the various sub disciplines of education.”4 In a comparative analysis by Jerry Wellington and Carole J. Torgerson,5 the investigators sought to identify the criteria used to designate high-status journals. This study asked one hundred professors from the United Kingdom and one hundred from the United States to list their preferred top four journals in rank order. The final compi-lation resulted in a listing of 144 journals. Survey participants reached some agreement as to what elements contributed to higher status journals, but variation and diversity within the data suggested that the concept of high quality remains a contested issue.

More recently, the Excellence in Research for Australia project, which commenced in 2007, was an effort that would have led to the awarding of funds competitively to Australian universities whose scholars published research in “top tier” journals.6 The project analyzed more than 1,000 education journals and then ranked them A*, A, B or C, but the ratings came under heavy fire and were subsequently rescinded. Nathaniel J. Bray and Claire H. Major7 surveyed faculty from higher education and identified six titles judged most prestigious from the fifty-one journal titles examined in their study. Assessing the value of educational administration and leadership journals was the target of a 2012 publication by Sabre Cherkowski, Russell Currie, and Sandy Hilton, which identified forty-eight journals.8 In this study, the authors employed the innovative active scholar assessment method to derive their data. That method involved surveying “active scholars,” those who had published research within the last two years, because they might be assumed to have up-to-date knowledge of journals. Those scholars were asked about their awareness of various journals and their perceptions of the publications’ quality.

Each of the above studies sought to distinguish educational journals one from an-other in terms of quality measures, but they evidence the difficulties reaching consensus


when deciding what factors contribute to quality judgments. As they illustrate, there is a need to know which journals are prestigious and a need to have a fair and reasonable method for assessing quality. Cherkowski, Currie, and Hilton described current rank-ing methodologies for social science journals and associated them broadly with either human assessment or objective measures models.9 For the purposes of their own study, they chose a nuanced peer assessment method. This prompts the question of how, on a day-to-day basis, researchers and scholars make journal choices, and whether, in the presence of objective metrics, how much objectivity influences such decisions. To some degree it might be a very intuitive process, or, as Wellington and Torgerson state, “Per-haps the assumption is that, like elephants, we just know one when we see one.”10 The literature on this question is silent, however.

Supporting Collection Development

Nearly a decade ago, Penny M. Beile, David N. Boote, and Elizabeth K. Killingsworth and Laurel Haycock conducted citation analysis studies to inform library collection decisions.11 Haycock analyzed references from forty-three dissertations in the field of curriculum and instruction. The findings suggested that both monographic and serial materials are important to retain in library collections for doctoral work. Beile, Boote, and Killingsworth evaluated thirty dissertations from three institutions and compared the most cited journals in the data set with the most cited titles across three institutions, thus putting their own institution’s sample into perspective. Karin L. Griffin’s study12 followed the Haycock research protocol by looking at dissertations in educational leader-ship from six peer universities to discover which serial and monographic publications libraries would need for robust support of the educational program.

A study by Bernadette A. Lear in 2012 sought out education journals and distin-guished forty titles as possible “journals of the decade.”13 This study identified 319 refereed educational journals and 383 refereed psychology journals published between 2002 and 2009. Lear’s examination looked at the ability of the information seeker to locate publications through Google Scholar and typical library databases and found coverage of open-access journal titles lower than expected. The study scored titles for ubiquity, as measured by the number of times a journal title was located within library databases or catalogs.

The overall aim of these studies was to examine the adequacy of library holdings in support of doctoral education programs. The limited inclusion of open-access jour-nal content in library products and well-recognized journal indexing tools points to a bias that effectively inhibits the flow of scholarly communication. Lear says, “Thus, if one relies on library subscription databases, one misses a vast amount of new material pertaining to education.”14 One implication from Lear’s findings is that reference and instructional librarians might wish to expand their notions of at-hand library holdings to include both subscribed and open-source journal content. This is particularly impor-tant because, she says, the qualities of open-access journals “are often assumed to be second-rate but are truly unknown.”15

Citation analysis of dissertations is a fairly common practice for assessing adequacy of library holdings. Studies considered sources and formats students were using for reference lists, but one study also raised the question of whether the works cited were


appropriate, timely, and of high quality. Beile, Currie, and Killingsworth assessed and scored citations using the latter three criteria but cautioned that librarians should not use doctoral student selections of material uncritically as the basis for library collec-tion decisions: “As evidenced by student reliance on items of questionable value, the presumed quality of dissertation citations was not substantiated by this study.”16 The latter study did not mention whether students had been oriented toward selection of materials prior to the evaluation of citations.

Summary

This investigation of current research was undertaken to find lists of journal titles selected by graduate students on topics of educational concern. A decade of research elicited only eight articles, which detailed findings in two broad areas: a perceived “quality,” which includes ranking and prestige; and library collection decisions, which extend to selection and retention of materials and adequacy of holdings. The pilot study under-taken by Ethan J. Allen and Roberta K. Weber,17 which identified only a small number of journal titles, derived its findings through criteria-based assignment requirements. This is a significant methodological departure from the former studies, which relied upon published indexes or citation analysis without reference to course requirements. All studies referenced here share a common interest in journal quality, whether the scholarly purpose is to publish in reputable journals or to select content from the best sources. For graduate students seeking evidence on contemporary educational issues, prior guidance from selection criteria is an imperative that has not been explicitly ad-dressed within the current literature.

Methodology

One professor assigned a literature search requiring the selection of eight—or, in sum-mer terms, five—qualitative or quantitative research studies to all sections of a course in U.S. Curricular Trends and Issues between 2005 and 2012 at a Florida public university. Graduate students taking the course came from various disciplines, with a large per-centage of them coming from College of Education programs, particularly curriculum and instruction. Course sections through this time frame numbered twenty-three, with ordinarily three sections taught each calendar year. Over time, the course has been of-fered in face-to face, online, and hybrid formats. The course syllabus provided criteria for selecting materials, and the professor and a campus librarian reinforced those criteria verbally, within the context of instructional sessions.

Coursework for each class culminated in the submission of a final paper on a current educational issue. The number of papers submitted was 367, and the archived reference lists from the final papers constitute the data set for this study. Because no students were identified within the data, the university’s Institutional Review Board waived the need for a human subjects research review. The total number of references, minus textbook and definition of term sources, equaled 2,503. Reference lists were evaluated as they became available, rather than all at once. Two of the criteria given to students for the selection of materials became the criteria for the investigator’s evaluation of each reference. That is, the references had to consist of qualitative or quantitative research studies found in


peer-reviewed journals. Referenced studies were not examined for date of publication. Reviews of research and meta-analyses pooling data from separate but similar studies did not meet the professor’s criteria, but case studies were allowable. In other words, studies needed to be replicable. For the most part, a single investigator assessed each reference, but on occasions, assistance came from a qualified student worker or library staff member. Materials that students selected but that did not meet the research study criteria were identified, analyzed, and accounted separately from references that met the professor’s criteria.

Spreadsheets were used to maintain a composite listing of journal titles obtained from student reference lists. Next to each journal title, a tally was kept to indicate the number of times each journal was referenced. The same information was kept separately for each course section. Of primary importance was whether articles referenced contained replicable research. Distinguishing research studies from other literature allowed the researchers to identify research journals as distinct from journals that did not contain original, replicable research. Article titles were searched either in the Summon library search engine (for Web-scale discovery) or, when not discovered in library databases, in Google. If an abstract appeared with key words or phrases pointing to research methodol-ogy (for example, focus groups, participants, or statistical variance), it was concluded that the journal itself typically carried research studies. Where the abstract was unrevealing or unclear as to the presence of qualitative or quantitative methodologies, an article’s full text was viewed. In cases where the article did not describe a research study, further investigation into the journal’s table of contents, randomly selected articles, statements of aims and scope, and direction to authors assisted the investigators in a determina-tion as to whether a journal qualified as a research journal. If it met the criteria stated previously, the journal title received a research mark. Conversely, if no research study content was found within the scope of investigation, the publication was marked as a non-research journal. To discover whether journals were peer-reviewed, Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Education and Ulrichsweb.com databases were consulted. Where these sources did not index titles under investigation, the journal’s home page or the publisher’s Web site was searched.

Findings

Graduate students enrolled in the university’s courses currently have access to a minimum of 80,000 electronic journal titles made accessible through paid library subscriptions and the inclusion of open-access journal content within digital library collections. Through

the time frame of the present study, however, students relied primarily upon library database and print subscrip-tions in addition to content found on the Internet. Bray and Major identified roughly 700 journals published for educational fields,18 though the number can be assumed

Graduate students enrolled in the university’s courses currently have access to a minimum of 80,000 electronic journal titles made acces-sible through paid library subscriptions and the inclusion of open-access journal content within digital library collections.


to have increased with the growth of the open-access movement. Between 2005 and 2012, students referenced 573 unique journal titles in their final papers. Students were not required to select educational journals exclusively, and the range of selected journal titles reflects this. Forty-eight percent of titles were used only once, and 52 percent of titles were used two or more times. Educational Leadership was the single most-referenced publication, selected ninety-two times. The median number of a single title’s appear-ance within references was two. “Commonly selected journals,” as stated in the first research question, are those titles that were referenced two or more times; therefore, the 48 percent of titles referenced only once are considered outliers in terms of the research question. Table 1 presents a listing of journal titles referenced ten or more times (N = 58).19 The Appendix lists the remainder of commonly selected journal titles referenced between two and nine times (N = 241).20 Both table and appendix present the number of times each title appeared within reference lists, a determination as to whether the journal published replicable qualitative or quantitative research, and the authority for identifying peer review status. Journals containing qualitative or quantitative research content (N = 457) constituted 79.95 percent of the complete journal list. When compared with the pilot sample, in which 67.4 percent of journals published research studies, the present study shows a 12.55 percent increase in students’ selection of journals containing qualitative or quantitative research content.21

Discussion

This investigation resulted in a listing of journals that do and do not publish evidence-based studies. It was rooted in a desire to learn how students performed when required to meet three basic criteria for a graduate course assignment. The few studies published in this research area focused on ranking or the perceived importance of numerous edu-cational journals as they influence collection development decisions. It is not known whether collection development librarians would wish to use on a regular basis a vetted list such as the one produced by the current study. The authors believe, however, that when selectors review journal packages or individual journal titles, such a list holds potential for more convenient evaluation of titles in terms of both peer review status and presence of empirical studies.

The present listing presents both usage patterns and journal content characteris-tics. It offers benefit to those engaged in graduate-level research on educational topics, whether in the role of student, professor, or librarian. As such, it is a vetted list repre-senting articles in publication between 1995 and 2012. This listing stands as a valuable resource for masters and doctoral students preparing to commence their own research initiatives, particularly as they conduct studies to complete theses or reviews of literature for dissertations. Its basis consists of student-selected articles chosen to address current educational issues. The list may also provide students and professors a source for peer-reviewed writing models supported by academic standards in various disciplines. Po-tentially, the results of this study will provide faculty in the social sciences, who address educational topics, access to a listing of journals containing studies published within a seventeen-year time frame. From these journals, faculty could select specific examples and non-examples as a means to enhance the critical thinking process. Referring to


Table 1.Journal titles selected ten or more times by graduate students, number of times referenced, peer review authority, and presence of replicable research studies

Journal Title Times Peer Review Qualitative/Quantitative Referenced Authority* Research Studies

Educational Leadership 92 C 0Educational Policy 51 C XReading Teacher 42 C XThe Clearing House 41 C XAmerican Educational Research Journal 38 C XJournal of Educational Research 36 C XMulticultural Education 33 C XTeachers College Record 33 C XReading Improvement 30 C XEducation and Urban Society 28 C XTeacher Education Quarterly 28 C XEducational Forum 27 C XThe Social Studies 27 C XEducational Researcher 26 C XThe Elementary School Journal 26 C XJournal of Research on Technology 25 C X in EducationEducational Administration Quarterly 23 C XRemedial and Special Education 23 C XJournal of Instructional Psychology 22 C XJournal of Research in Childhood Education 20 C XEducation Policy Analysis Archive 19 C XExceptional Children 19 C XNASSP [National Association of 19 C X Secondary School Principals] BulletinThe High School Journal 18 C XEducation Next: A Journal of 17 C X Opinion and ResearchTeaching and Teacher Education 17 C XAmerican Journal of Education 16 C XJournal of School Health 16 C XJournal of Special Education 16 C XJournal of Teacher Education 16 C X


this or similar lists could become the first step in the literature search process, thereby guiding students to acceptable texts that support assignment criteria, specifically when distinguishing between opinion-based and evidence-based information.

Reference and instruction librarians collaborating with professors may be able to assist students in the recognition of qualitative and quantitative research within the journal literature. While database and Web-scale discovery tools allow narrowing of results to peer-reviewed content, most do not offer an option for retrieval of empirical research. Results that appear in initial searches may be perceived as highly relevant and useful to the student, but in reality may not meet the rigor of the evidence criterion. The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education is somewhat unique among education databases in that it accommodates

Kappa Delta Pi Record 16 C XSchool Science and Mathematics 16 C XAmerican Journal of Education 15 C XChildhood Education 15 C 0Journal of Moral Education 15 C XJournal of Teacher Education 15 C XAmerican Journal of Education 14 C XJournal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 14 C XPreventing School Failure 14 C XTheory into Practice 14 C XUrban Education 14 C XJournal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 13 C XJournal of Law and Education 13 J 0Reading Research and Instruction 13 U XProfessional School Counseling 13 C XReading Research Quarterly 13 C XReview of Educational Research 13 C 0Educational Studies 12 C XInternational Journal of Social Education 12 C XJournal of Curriculum and Supervision 12 U XPeabody Journal of Education 12 U XRoeper Review 12 C XAmerican Secondary Education 11 C XInternational Journal of Social Education 11 C XArt Education 10 C 0Educational Horizons 10 C XForeign Language Annals 10 C XJournal of Social Studies Research 10 C X

*Letter abbreviations are used to represent sources consulted: C (Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities), J (journal home page), P (publisher’s Web site), and U (Ulrichsweb.com).


this very level of specificity. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)—now part of Thomson Reuters—and EBSCO search interfaces allow users to set parameters for Reports – Research. The advanced search in the American Psychological Association’s PsycNET retrieves empirical studies through its content parameter. To use these tools, however, student searchers will need to become aware of them. The findings of the present study pinpoint the inefficiency of poorly executed literature searches. Students, rather than following steps modeled in instructional sessions, may have relied upon search habits that had been previously successful. This condition creates new opportunities to develop or advance information literacy strategies for identifying, evaluating, and applying critical reflection to an underused body of literature.

Future studies might assess the effectiveness of instruction by inviting students to share search results with one another and asking them to critique chosen sources in terms of how articles met selection criteria. The benefits of doing so would encourage student accountability within a cooperative learning environment. It would provide classroom faculty, librarians, and students immediate feedback within the context of learning. Alternately, instructors could assess the effectiveness of vetted journal lists at critical junctures throughout the course duration by means of focus groups or other qualitative measures.

The focus of this eight-year investigation was to discover which scholarly sources graduate students were choosing to investigate current educational topics. The study identified 457 journals that regularly published articles that examined quantitative and qualitative data sets. In the latter selections, students met literature search criteria for the 2005–2012 academic calendar years. The same study also indicated that students chose both scholarly and non-scholarly journals that did not meet course criteria, with 116 journals selected judged non-research titles. The presence or absence of empirical studies within scholarly journals is a variable not readily known by students. Nor do librarians or professors necessarily know this characteristic without an accumulation of experience. Knowing whether a journal includes research studies is more typically a matter of discovery. Checking Aims and Scope statements, locating an empirical study within a journal, or mining sources such as Cabell’s Directories or Ulrichsweb.com are practically the only means to verify what each individual journal contains. A vetted listing of journal titles accomplishes two straightforward objectives: it directs students to sources known to contain research studies on their topics, and, of critical importance, it saves them time.

Roberta K. Weber is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Culture, and Educational Inquiry at Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL; she may be reached by e-mail at: [email protected].

Ethan J. Allen is director of the John D. MacArthur Campus Library, Florida Atlantic University Libraries, Jupiter, FL; he may be reached by e-mail at: [email protected].


Appendix Journal titles selected by graduate students, titles referenced between two and nine times, peer review authority or status, and presence of replicable research studies

Journal Title Times Peer Review Qualitative Referenced Authority* Quantitative Studies

Journal of Educational Psychology 9 C XAction in Teacher Education 8 C XCurrent Issues in Education 8 C XEducational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 8 C XThe History Teacher 8 C XJournal of Negro Education 8 C XScience Teacher 8 C 0Arts Education Policy Review 7 P XCollege Student Journal 7 C XEarly Childhood Education Journal 7 C XInternational Journal on Violence and School 7 J XJournal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 7 C XJournal of Educational Administration 7 C XJournal of Educational Thought 7 U 0Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 7 C XMulticultural Perspectives 7 C XReligious Education 7 C 0Teaching Exceptional Children 7 C XTechnology Teacher 7 U 0Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 7 C XChild Study Journal 6 U XComputers in the Schools 6 C XEnglish Journal 6 C 0International Journal of Instructional Media 6 C XInternational Journal of Whole Schooling 6 C XJournal of Advanced Academics 6 C XJournal of Counseling and Development 6 C XJournal of Education Finance 6 C XJournal of Environmental Education 6 C XJournal of Humanistic Counseling, 6 U 0 Education and Development (now Journal of Humanistic Counseling)Journal of Learning Disabilities 6 C XJournal of School Leadership 6 C X


Journal of Special Education Technology 6 C XLanguage Arts 6 C 0Learning Disability Quarterly 6 C XMathematics Teaching in the Middle School 6 C 0Online Journal of Distance Education 6 J X AdministrationPsychology in the Schools 6 C XResearch in Middle Level Education 6 C XRural Educator 6 C XSchool Psychology Review 6 C XSocial Science Quarterly 6 C XStudies in Art Education 6 C XAdolescence 5 U XAnnals of the American Academy of 5 U X Political and Social ScienceArts and Humanities in Higher Education 5 U XBilingual Research Journal 5 C XBritish Journal of Educational Technology 5 C XCanadian Journal of Education 5 C XComputers & Education 5 C XContemporary Educational Psychology 5 C XEconomics of Education Review 5 C XEquity & Excellence in Education 5 C XHispania 5 C XInternational Journal of Special Education 5 C XJournal of Applied Research in Intellectual 5 U X DisabilitiesJournal of Church and State 5 U 0Journal of Computers in Mathematics 5 C X and Science TeachingJournal of Education Policy 5 C 0Journal of Higher Education 5 C XMathematical Thinking and Learning 5 C XThe Negro Educational Review 5 U XThe New England Reading Association Journal 5 U XSociology of Education 5 U XTeacher Librarian 5 U 0Technology, Pedagogy and Education 5 C XAmerican Biology Teacher 4 C 0Education and Training in Developmental 4 U X DisabilitiesEducation Economics 4 C XEducational and Psychological Measurement 4 C XEducational Assessment 4 C XEducational Considerations 4 C X


Educational Psychologist 4 C XEducational Research 4 C XEducational Technology Research and Development 4 C XEducational Theory 4 C 0Harvard Educational Review 4 C XHigher Education 4 C XIntercultural Education 4 C XThe Internet and Higher Education 4 C XIntervention in School and Clinic 4 C XJournal for Research in Mathematics Education 4 C XJournal of Cases in Educational Leadership 4 C XJournal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 4 C XJournal of Education 4 U XJournal of Policy Analysis and Management 4 C XJournal of Research in Reading 4 C XJournal of Research on Christian Education 4 C XJournal of School Psychology 4 U XJournal of Science Education and Technology 4 C XJournal of Science Teacher Education 4 U XJournal of Youth and Adolescence 4 U XLiberal Education 4 J 0Music Educator’s Journal 4 C 0Rural Special Education Quarterly 4 C XSchool Psychology International 4 C XSocial Justice Research 4 U XStudies in Philosophy and Education 4 C 0Teacher Education and Special Education 4 C XTeaching Children Mathematics 4 C 0Teaching Education 4 C XTheory and Research in Education 4 U 0American Annals of the Deaf 3 C 0American Politics Research 3 U XAnthropology & Education Quarterly 3 C XBritish Educational Research Journal 3 C XCanadian Journal of Educational 3 C X Administration and Policy Education and Treatment of Children 3 C XEssays in Education 3 U XETC: A Review of General Semantics 3 U XEuropean Journal of Special Needs Education 3 C XGender & Society 3 U XInterchange 3 U XInternational Journal of Information and 3 C X Communication Technology EducationInternational Journal of Educational Development 3 U X


International Journal of Science Education 3 C XJournal of Black Studies 3 U XJournal of College Admission 3 J XJournal of Curriculum Theorizing 3 J 0Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 3 U XJournal of Education for Business 3 C XJournal of Experiential Education 3 C XJournal of Human Resources 3 C XJournal of Industrial Teacher Education 3 U XJournal of Literacy Research 3 C XJournal of Physical Education, Recreation and 3 C X DanceJournal of Primary Prevention 3 U XJournal of Social Issues 3 C XLeadership 3 U 0Literacy Research and Instruction 3 C XNew Educator 3 U XOxford Review of Education 3 U XRace Ethnicity and Education 3 C XRadical Teacher 3 U 0Reading Psychology 3 C XSchool Leadership and Management 3 C XTESOL [Teachers of English to Speakers 3 C X of Other Languages] QuarterlyTheory and Research in Education 3 U XAcademic Exchange Quarterly 2 C 0Aggressive Behavior 2 U XAmerican Journal of Political Science 2 U XApplied Developmental Science 2 U XAustralian Journal of Language and Literacy 2 U XBioScience 2 J 0British Journal of Educational Psychology 2 C XBusiness Communication Quarterly 2 U 0Catalyst for Change 2 U 0Child Development 2 C XChild Psychiatry and Human Development 2 U XChildren and Schools 2 C XCollege Teaching 2 C XCommunity College Journal of Research and 2 C X PracticeCultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority 2 U X PsychologyCultural Diversity and Mental Health 2 U XCultural Studies, Critical Methodologies 2 U XCurriculum Journal 2 C X


Delta Pi Epsilon Journal 2 C XDemocracy and Education 2 U 0Early Childhood Research Quarterly 2 C XEducational Assessment, Evaluation and 2 C X AccountabilityEducational Measurement 2 C XEducational Review 2 C XEducational Sciences: Theory and Practice 2 J XEducational Studies in Mathematics 2 C XElectronic Journal of Science Education 2 U XELT [English Language Teaching] Journal 2 C XEmory Law Journal 2 U 0English Teaching: Practice and Critique 2 U 0European Physical Education Review 2 U XEvolution: Education and Outreach 2 U XForum on Public Policy 2 U 0Health Education Research 2 U XHispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 2 U XImproving Schools 2 C XIntelligence 2 C XInternational Journal of Disability, 2 C X Development and Education International Journal of Education 2 C X Policy and LeadershipInternational Journal of Environmental 2 C X and Science EducationInternational Journal of Mathematical 2 C X Education in Science and TechnologyInternational Journal of Science 2 C X and Mathematics EducationJournal for Critical Education Policy Studies 2 U 0Journal of American Indian Education 2 U XJournal of Applied Behavior Analysis 2 U XJournal of Applied Developmental Psychology 2 C XJournal of Behavioral Education 2 C XJournal of Classroom Interaction 2 C XJournal of College Reading and Learning 2 U XJournal of Curriculum Studies 2 U XJournal of Developmental Education 2 C XJournal of Disability Policy Studies 2 C XJournal of Educational Multimedia and 2 U X HypermediaJournal of Educational Research & Policy Studies 2 C XJournal of General Education 2 U XJournal of Labor Economics 2 C X


Journal of Law and Religion 2 U 0Journal of Mathematical Behavior 2 C XJournal of Multicultural Counseling and 2 C X DevelopmentJournal of Nursing Education 2 U XJournal of Reading Education 2 U XJournal of Research in Character Education 2 J XJournal of Research in Health, Physical 2 U X Education, Recreation, Sport and DanceJournal of Research in Music Education 2 C XJournal of Research in Science Teaching 2 C XJournal of School Violence 2 C XJournal of Technology Studies 2 C XJournal of Youth Services in Libraries (ceased) 2 N/A 0Language Testing 2 C XLanguage, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 2 C XLeadership and Policy in Schools 2 P XLiteracy 2 U XMathematics Teaching 2 NR XMiddle School Journal 2 C 0Multicultural Education and Technology Journal 2 C XNew Directions for Community Colleges 2 U XPeer Review 2 J 0Personality and Individual Differences 2 U XPolicies Studies Journal 2 U XPrevention Science 2 U XProcedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 U XPsychological Bulletin 2 U 0The Qualitative Report 2 C XQualitative Research in Psychology 2 P XReading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2 U XReading Horizons 2 C XReclaiming Children and Youth 2 U 0Research Papers in Education 2 C XResearch Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 2 U XReview of Research in Education 2 U 0School Community Journal 2 U 0Science & Education 2 U XScience Education 2 C XScience Scope 2 U 0Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 2 U XSpectrum: The Journal of State 2 N/A 0 Government (ceased)Teacher Development 2 C XTeaching English in the Two-Year College 2 C X


Teaching Exceptional Children Plus 2 C 0Teaching Sociology 2 U XTurkish Online Journal of Distance Education 2 C XUrban Review 2 C XYoung Children 2 C 0

*Letter abbreviations are used to represent sources consulted or special status: C (Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities), J (journal home page), N/A (not available), NR (not refereed), P (publisher’s Web site), and U (Ulrichsweb.com).

Notes

1. Rosemary Green, “Information Illiteracy: Examining Our Assumptions,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 36, 4 (January 2010): 315, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2010.05.005.

2. Carol C. Kuhlthau, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993).

3. Kathleen M. T. Collins and Robin E. Veal, “Off-Campus Adult Learners’ Levels of Anxiety as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward the Internet,” Library and Information Science Research 26, 4 (2004): 5–14, doi: 10.1016/j.lisr.2003.11.002; Rosemary Green and Mary Bowser, “Managing Thesis Anxiety,” Journal of Library Administration 37, 3/4 (2002): 341–54, doi: 10.1300/J111v37n03_28; Rachel Fleming-May and Lisa Yuro, “From Student to Scholar: The Academic Library and Social Sciences PhD Students’ Transformation,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 9, 2 (2009): 199–221, doi: 10.1353/pla.0.0040; Green, “Information Illiteracy,” 313–19; David N. Boote and Penny Beile, “Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation,” Educational Researcher 34, 6 (2005): 3–15, doi: 10.3102/0013189X034006003; Hannah Gascho Rempel, “A Longitudinal Assessment of Graduate Student Research Behavior and the Impact of Attending a Library Literature Review Workshop,” College and Research Libraries 71, 6 (2010): 532–47; Laurel A. Haycock, “Citation Analysis of Education Dissertations for Collection Development,” Library Resources & Technical Services 48, 2 (2004): 102–6.

4. Nancy Patricia O’Brien, “Journals of the Century in Education,” Serials Librarian 39, 3 (2001): 102, doi: 10.1300/J123v39n03_10.

5. Jerry Wellington and Carole J. Torgerson, “Writing for Publication: What Counts as a ‘High Status, Eminent Academic Journal’?” Journal of Further and Higher Education 29, 1 (2005): 35–48, doi: 10.1080/03098770500037739.

6. Hedy Fairbairn, Allyson Holbrook, Sid Bourke, Greg Preston, Robert Cantwell, and Jill Scevak, “A Profile of Education Journals,” in AARE [Australian Association for Research in Education] Conference Proceedings (2009), comp. Peter L. Jeffery, accessed February 26, 2013, http://www.aare.edu.au/08pap/fai08605.pdf.

7. Nathaniel J. Bray and Claire H. Major, “Status of Journals in the Field of Higher Education,” Journal of Higher Education 82, 4 (2011): 479–503.

8. Sabre Cherkowski, Russell Currie, and Sandy Hilton, “Who Should Rank Our Journals . . . and Based on What?” Journal of Educational Administration 50, 2 (2012): 206–30, doi: 10.1108/09578231211210558.

9. Ibid.10. Wellington and Torgerson, “Writing for Publication,” 36.11. Penny M. Beile, David N. Boote, and Elizabeth K. Killingsworth, “A Microscope or a

Mirror? A Question of Study Validity Regarding the Use of Dissertation Citation Analysis for Evaluating Research Collections,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 30, 5 (2004): 347–53, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2004.06.001. Haycock, “Citation Analysis.”


12. Karin L. Griffin, “Starting from Ground Zero: Establishing a Collection for a New Doctoral Program,” Behavioral & Social Science Librarian 30, 4 (2011): 223–45, doi: 10.1080/01639269.2011.622255.

13. Bernadette A. Lear, “New Journals in Education and Psychology: General Trends, Discoverability, and Ubiquitous Journals of the Decade, 2000–2009,” College & Research Libraries 73, 3 (2012): 243–62.

14. Lear, “New Journals in Education and Psychology,” 245.15. Ibid., 257.16. Beile, Boote, and Killingsworth, “A Microscope or a Mirror?” 352.17. Ethan J. Allen and Roberta K. Weber, “Graduate Student Searching Proficiencies in

the Selection of Qualitative and Quantitative Journal References,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 38, 3: (2012): 130–34, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2012.02.007.

18. Bray and Major, “Status of Journals in the Field of Higher Education.”19. Table 1 is available at http://home.fau.edu/eallen/web/Table1.pdf.20. The appendix is available at http://home.fau.edu/eallen/web/Appendix.pdf.21. Allen and Weber, “Graduate Student Searching Proficiencies.”

Documents

Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging Resource