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

Extended impact factor

h-index

Impact and h-index (frequency in top 4 ranking) ImpactNo.h-indexNo. B Indonesian Economic St2 2 Sing J Tropical Geography2 2 Higher Ed R & D*2 Geographical Research1 1 Archaeology in Oceania*1Discourse1 Distance Education1 Architectural Science Rev1 Aust J Education1 Oceania1

Diffusion (by citations)

Diffusion (by articles)

ERA & alternative rankings ERA rank JournalsTotal cites Impacth-index WSWSWS A*Australian J of Education A*Higher Education BDistance Education BTeaching Education CAustralian J of Career Development

Discussion Citation data & sources Australian journals Peer ranking Implications for librarians