Evaluating journal quality : A review of journal citation indicators and ranking in library and information science core journals

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the influence and quality of library and Information Science journals. Currently used bibliometric indicators include: Journal Impact Factor (JIF), Eigenfactor Score (ES), SCImago Journal Rank indicator (SJR), Cite Score (CS), and Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) indicator rank. Specific library and Information Science journals were collected from their class within Web of Science. JIFs and ESs were composed of Journal Citation Report and the SJR, Cite Score and SNIP from the SCOPUS, SCImago Journal, and country rank website respectively. The researchers randomly selected and examined eighty-nine Library and Information Science journals detailed with necessary data derived from the principal and original sites as related to JIF, ES, SJR, CS and SNIP quality ranking indexes. Correlations amid meters were explained by Pearson's and Spearman's statistical correlations employing SPSS 23.0 package. Concerning Spearman's rho statistical correlation, a high correlation was observed between JIF and ES rank (coefficient value of 0.843) for Information Science journals and a lesser value between JIF and SJR rank (coefficient value of 0.759) and a rather low correlation between both JIF and SNIP rank (coefficient value = 0.618). An overall Journal Quality Index is proposed to utilise the potentiality of all various indicators used for measuring journal quality.