Quality of Academic Journalsin Full Text Databases

and Discovery Services

Paul Donovan

Senior Vice President EBSCO Publishing

Among Peers

First Seminar

to publish and browse scientific information nets

Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco

September 25, 2012

Dilemma & Solution

• Although not perfect, there are many optionsfor measuring the quality of journals

‒ This includes one well-established andwell-respected tool (Web of Science)

• Dilemma – Full-text Databases have no such tools

• Solution – Use the journal quality measurement tools to compare the active full text in each database or package to measure value

Journals:

• Eigenfactor (University of Washington, using JCR data)

• Individually published ranking studies for journals

in various disciplines (Faculty)

• PageRank (Google)

• SCImago Journal Rank (based on Scopus data)

• Web of Science / ISI / JCR / Impact Factor (Thomson Reuters)

• Licensed or subject specific databases

Full-Text Databases:

• None

Major Quality Measurement Tools

How are the Journal tools used with databases?

• Used to identify titles to be indexed in our databases

• Used to identify journals to be targeted for full text licensing

• Used to measure the value and usefulness of our databases vs. competing

databases in the market

EigenfactorExample…

Embargoed

Full Text

Eigenfactor.org Business Journals Ranking (Most Current Ranking as of 25 July 2012)

Rank Journal Name

Academy of Management Journal1

Rank Journal Name

Academy of Management Review2

Strategic Management Journal3

Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)4

Journal of Marketing5

Business

Source Complete

Full Text Coverage

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

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Active Full Text,

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ABI/INFORM

Complete

Full Text Coverage

No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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Business Insights:

Essentials

Full Text Coverage

No Ongoing

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2012 Top Five

Academic Business Journals

Eigenfactor.org Business Journals Ranking (Most Current Ranking as of 8 March 2011)

Rank Journal Name

Academy of Management Review1

Rank Journal Name

Academy of Management Journal2

Administrative Science Quarterly3

MIS Quarterly4

Journal of Marketing5

Business

Source Complete

Full Text Coverage

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

Active Full Text,

NO Embargo

ABI/INFORM

Complete

Full Text Coverage

No Ongoing

Full Text

No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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Business Insights:

Essentials

Full Text Coverage

No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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No Ongoing

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2011 Top Five

Academic Business Journals

Individually PublishedJournal Ranking Studies

(Faculty)

Management Journals Ranked

Study by Coe & Weinstock from Academy of Management Journal

Marketing Journals Ranked

Study by Gordon and Heischmidt from Journal of Marketing Education

Administrative Science Quarterly1

Rank Journal Name

Academy of Management Journal2

Harvard Business Review3

Management Science4

Operations Research5

Academy of Management Review6

Industrial & Labor Relations Review7

California Management Review8

Journal of Marketing1

Rank Journal Name

Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)2

EBSCO

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EBSCO

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Gale

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Gale

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ProQuest

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ProQuest

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Data (for both of the above) from September 12, 2012

MIS Journals Ranked

Mylonopoulos & Theoharakis: http://www.bus.ucf.edu/csaunders/newjournal.htm

POM Journals Ranked

Ranking from Barman et al (Relevance): http://www.bus.ucf.edu/csaunders/newjournal.htm

MIS Quarterly1

Rank Journal Name

Communications of the ACM2

Information Systems Research3

Journal of Management Information Systems4

Journal of Operations Management1

Rank Journal Name

International Journal of Production Research2

EBSCO

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EBSCO

NO Full Text

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Gale

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NO Full Text

Gale

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ProQuest

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ProQuest

NO Full Text

NO Full Text

Data (for both of the above) from September 12, 2012

Accounting Journals Ranked

Hasselback et al, appeared in Accounting Forum, Volume 26, Issue 1, Pg 45

Finance Journals Ranked

Study by Mabry & Sharplin, “Conclusions, a Final Ranking of Finance Journals”, The Journal of Financial Research

Journal of Accounting Research1

Rank Journal Name

Accounting Review2

Journal of Accounting & Economics3

Accounting, Organizations & Society4

Contemporary Accounting Research4

Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance4

Journal of Finance1

Rank Journal Name

Journal of Financial Economics2

Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis3

Journal of Money, Credit & Banking4

EBSCO

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EBSCO

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Gale

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Gale

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ProQuest

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ProQuest

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Data (for both of the above) from September 12, 2012

Soon To Be Halted

Full Text

Web of Science Analysis…

ALL 88 ProQuest products combinedActive Full-Text Journals Indexed inWeb of Science that are NOT availableas Active Full Text in ASC, BSC &Subject-Specific Full-Text Databases

904

Shared Active Full-Text JournalsIndexed in Web of Science 1,346

ASC, BSC & Subject-Specific Full-Text DatabasesActive Full-Text Journals Indexed inWeb of Science that are NOT availableas Active Full Text in ANY ProQuest Product

3,256

Uniqueness of Quality Journals Compared

Compared on September 12, 2012

ALL 82 Gale products combinedActive Full-Text Journals Indexed inWeb of Science and NOT in DOAJ that are NOT available as Active Full Text in ASC, BSC& Subject-Specific Full-Text Databases

167

Shared Active Full-Text JournalsIndexed in Web of Science and NOT in DOAJ 465

ASC, BSC & Subject-Specific Full-Text DatabasesActive Full-Text Journals Indexed inWeb of Science and NOT in DOAJ that are NOT available as Active Full Text in ANY Gale Product

3,525

Uniqueness of Quality Journals Compared

Compared on September 12, 2012

• How often journals are cited is based partly on how often they are used and seen

• Inclusion in databases increases visibility, usage and circulation outside the traditional subscription base

• EBSCOhost databases include close to 40% of all the journals indexed in the Indice de Revistas Mexicanas de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica

EBSCOhost Databases: Contributing to increase exposure of Mexican Journals

Measuring the Value of

Open Access Content in Databases

• EBSCO indexes more open access journals than all other organizations combined:

‒ TOTAL open access journals indexed by EBSCO = 4,919

‒ TOTAL open access journals indexed by EBSCO

and listed in DOAJ = 3,671

• How do we determine what journals to target?

o What subject areas?

o Peer reviewed?

o Who is on the board?

Citation Information in Full Text Products

• Business Source= 1,414

• Academic Search = 1,447

• Historical Abstracts=700

• Education Research Complete=1,190

• Humanities International Complete= 780

• Political Science Complete=424

• Communication & Mass Media Complete= 381

• Over 50 databases with searchable references

• Web Of Science available for mutual customers with EBSCO Discovery Service

Dilemma

• Academic community is constantly working to define academic content

• Subject specific databases work to highlight the most relevant content in a

subject area

• Yet, there is a movement to provide a Google-like experience in academic

research with a Discovery Service

• The challenge lays in providing a Discovery service while also maintaining the

ability to deliver relevant academic content

Discovery ServicesWhat is the goal?

To have a single common user interface for all content,

while returning relevant high quality results

Most Discovery Services rarely include subject indexes

YES NO

•ABSEES

•Academic Search

Elite / Premier / Complete

•AgeLine

•AGRICOLA

•Alternative Press Index

•Alternative Press Index Archive

•America: History & Life / Full Text

•Applied Science & Technology Abstracts / Full Text

•Applied Science & Technology

Index Retrospective

•Art & Architecture Index / Complete

•Art Abstracts / Full Text

•Art Index Retrospective

•ATLA Religion Database

•Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals

•Bibliography of Native North Americans

•Biological & Agricultural Index Plus

•Biological Abstracts

•Biological Abstracts Archive

•Business Periodicals Index / Full Text

•Business Periodicals Index Retrospective

•Business Source

Elite / Premier / Complete

•CAB Abstracts

•CAB Archive

•Catholic Periodical &

Literature Index Online

•Chemical Abstracts

•Child Development & Adolescent Studies

•CINAHL

•Communication &

Mass Media Index / Complete

•Communication Abstracts

•Computers & Applied Sciences

Index / Complete

•Criminal Justice Abstracts

•Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source

•EconLit

•Education Abstracts / Full Text

•Education Index Retrospective

•Education Research Index / Complete

•Ei Compendex

•EMBASE

•Environment Index / Complete

•Essay & General Literature Index

•Family & Society Studies Worldwide

•Family Studies Abstracts

•Film & Television Literature

Index / Full Text

•FRANCIS

•FSTA: Food Science &

Technology Abstracts

•Gender Studies Database

•General Science Abstracts / Full Text

Discovery services will rarely be able to search the

subject headings of the top non-government subject indexes

•ERIC

•MEDLINE

•MLA International Bibliography

Discovery Services:What is the risk?

Exposing users/researchers to a large quantity of results

from

poor quality, non academic sources

EBSCO Discovery Service

Platform blending allows to integrate subject indexing to the

discovery experience

How Does Platform Blending Work?

Conclusions

• No tools exist for measuring the value of full text databases

• EBSCO uses the tools available for measuring the quality of journals to build

and compare it’s databases to others in the market

• The large subscription base of full text databases and discovery services helps

journals increase visibility and usage

• Some discovery services do not have the functionality or meta data to

highlight academic content

Thank You!

Paul Donovan

Senior Vice President EBSCO Publishing