Quality of Academic Journals in 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 options for measuring the quality of journals ‒ This includes one well-established and well-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

Eigenfactor Example…

Embargoed Full Text Eigenfactor.org Business Journals Ranking (Most Current Ranking as of 25 July 2012) RankJournal Name Academy of Management Journal1 RankJournal 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 ABI/INFORM Complete Full Text Coverage No Ongoing Full Text Business Insights: Essentials Full Text Coverage No Ongoing Full Text 2012 Top Five Academic Business Journals Eigenfactor.org Business Journals Ranking (Most Current Ranking as of 8 March 2011) RankJournal Name Academy of Management Review1 RankJournal Name Academy of Management Journal2 Administrative Science Quarterly3 MIS Quarterly4 Journal of Marketing5 Business Source Complete Full Text Coverage Active Full Text, NO Embargo ABI/INFORM Complete Full Text Coverage No Ongoing Full Text Business Insights: Essentials Full Text Coverage No Ongoing Full Text 2011 Top Five Academic Business Journals

Individually Published Journal 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 RankJournal 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 RankJournal Name Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)2 EBSCO Full Text with NO Embargo Embargoed Full Text Full Text with NO Embargo EBSCO Full Text with NO Embargo Gale Halted Full Text NO Full Text Halted Full Text Embargoed Full Text NO Full Text Halted Full Text NO Full Text Gale NO Full Text ProQuest Halted Full Text NO Full Text Embargoed Full Text Halted Full Text ProQuest Halted Full Text Data (for both of the above) from September 12, 2012

MIS Journals Ranked Mylonopoulos & Theoharakis: POM Journals Ranked Ranking from Barman et al (Relevance): MIS Quarterly1 RankJournal Name Communications of the ACM2 Information Systems Research3 Journal of Management Information Systems4 Journal of Operations Management1 RankJournal Name International Journal of Production Research2 EBSCO Full Text with NO Embargo Embargoed Full Text Full Text with NO Embargo EBSCO NO Full Text Embargoed Full Text Gale Halted Full Text Embargoed Full Text NO Full Text Gale NO Full Text ProQuest Halted Full Text NO Full Text Embargoed Full Text Halted Full Text ProQuest 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 RankJournal Name Accounting Review2 Journal of Accounting & Economics3 Accounting, Organizations & Society4 Contemporary Accounting Research4 Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance4 Journal of Finance1 RankJournal Name Journal of Financial Economics2 Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis3 Journal of Money, Credit & Banking4 EBSCO Embargoed Full Text Full Text with NO Embargo NO Full Text Embargoed Full Text Full Text with NO Embargo EBSCO Embargoed Full Text NO Full Text Full Text with NO Embargo Embargoed Full Text Gale NO Full Text Halted Full Text NO Full Text Gale NO Full Text ProQuest NO Full Text Halted Full Text NO Full Text ProQuest NO Full Text Halted Full Text Data (for both of the above) from September 12, 2012 Soon To Be Halted Full Text

Web of Science Analysis…

Uniqueness of Quality Journals Compared Compared on September 12, 2012

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 Services What 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

YESNO 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