Predatory publishers

We have blogged before about predatory publishers but a training session today suggested some tips people might find useful:

• Some journals lie about an impact factor. If you are in doubt about a journal go to http://wok.mimas.ac.uk then click the purple login button. You will find Journal Citation Reports right at the top of the screen and can check any claims.
• Be suspicious of any journal which claims to publish very quickly with peer review – this usually takes time.
• Where you can, check out journal editors. In a good journal they should be someone with a track record in the field.
• Suncat is a union catalogue showing the journal holdings of many UK academic libraries. If a journal is not held by any library, or perhaps only one, it may be suspect. However, you do need to bear in mind that there may be genuine new journals which don’t appear yet.
• DOAJ, the Directory of Open Access Journals, carries out some quality checks on the journals it lists.

It is also worth being aware that some conferences are run purely to make money without giving any value. Think Check Attend gives some things to think about if you are considering a new conference.

New issue of Journal Citation Reports

Journal citation reports with 2017 data is now available. It now includes citations from the book citation index, widening coverage.

To go into JCR login to Web of Science http://wok.mimas.ac.uk, click the purple access button and you will see a link to Journal Citation Reports at the top of the screen.

To see journal rankings in your subject area, select the right category from the area on the left and click Submit.

JCR Fact Sheet

Quick tour video

You may also like to look at the Elsevier rival to JCR, SJR Scimago journal and country rank.

Remember that although these metrics can be useful in finding good journals, all statistics have their flaws and there is no guarantee that an individual article in a journal with a high impact factor will be cited a lot. It’s also worth remembering that REF do not take into account an impact factor when scoring an article. JCR and SJR can be useful in helping you to choose a journal but it is best to use other methods as well, such as the opinion of colleagues, your own reading of a journal or your knowledge of the editors.

If you would like help please contact iss-research@swansea.ac.uk

Latest impact factor data

The latest edition of Journal Citation Reports containing impact factors for 2015 has just been released. On campus you can access it from https://jcr.incites.thomsonreuters.com/ . If you need to use it off campus go to iFind and search for Incites Journal Citation Reports. This should take you to a point where you can use your Swansea University login.

Note that the database only covers science and social science although a few journals from other areas may have an impact factor.

If you want to look at the current ranking of journals within a subject area

• go to Categories by Rank.

• Click on the number which you can see in the Journals column in the image below. This will give you a listing of journals ranked by impact factor.

• There is a check box at the left of the screen which you can use if you want to find open access journals with a good impact factor.

If you want more information on the different statistics available from JCR their guide is a good starting point.

 

Finding Impact Factors: Journal Citation Reports latest issue

Finding Impact Factors: Journal Citation Reports latest edition

Journal citation reports can be used to find out the impact factor for a journal. This is a useful way of finding quality journals where your article is more likely to be cited (although it only covers science and social sciences). Our brief guide will get you started and you can find some training videos on the Thomson web site.

What’s new?

The latest edition has just been released, covering journal analysis for2014. 272 new journals have been added. There are some new metrics and an open access filter allowing people to look specifically at  open access journals.

Once you have a list of the journals for your subject you can select the open access option to see which are the best performing open access journals for your area.

Want to know more?

Here are a few links to information to give you a flavour of the issues surrounding JCR and Impact Factors:

• http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2015/06/18/2014-journal-impact-factors/ – brief description of some of the metrics in JCR. The online help in Web of Science also has descriptions of all the measures used.
• Casting a wide net: the journal impact factor numerator / Stephen C. Hubbard, Marie McVeigh – detailed article on creating the impact factor by some of the people behind it.
• http://www.journalmetrics.com/faq.php – rival metrics to the Impact factor based on Scopus data.
• http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/06/record-number-of-journals-banned-for-boosting-impact-factor-with-self-citations.html – attempts to fix the impact factor.
• http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/08/21/the-mystery-of-a-partial-impact-factor/ – new journal titles and the impact factor.
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/05/16/elite-journals-are-losing-their-position-of-privilege/ – opinion piece on the decline in the impact factor as a measure.

Need help

If you need help using Journal Citation Reports contact your subject librarian or iss-research@swansea.ac.uk

2012 Journal Citation Reports – Now Available!

ISI have released the most recent data which you can check to find Journal Impact factors.

The Library has a subscription to this and you can access the data on the Web of Knowledge platform. Log in using IP Authentication (on campus only) OR Institutional Authentication (your normal username & password). Choose the tab Select a database and then choose Journal Citation Reports.  This is a useful tool to help when deciding where to publish.

If you haven’t used this resource before, there is an online tutorial available or contact the library for assistance.

New edition of Journal Citation Reports – check the latest impact factors

The latest edition of Journal Citation Reports is now available from Web of Knowledge. This will show you which are the highest impact journals in your area at the moment.

Access it from http://wok.mimas.ac.uk and use the select a database tab. Further information and guides are available athttp://wokinfo.com/products_tools/analytical/jcr/ or contact your library subject team  for help.

Making an impact: using Journal Citation Reports and other tools to measure the impact of your research

This session for academic staff and researchers will look at the ways you can monitor the impact your publications are having, especially when considering the REF. We will also look at Researcher ID as a way of raising your own profile, Journal Citation Reports, and Web of Science facilities such as cited reference searching, citation mapping, times cited, citation alerts and amending your author name if necessary.

The session will be held in the Library & Information Centre (Room – PC3) on 15th February 2011 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

To book a place, please contact i.glen@swan.ac.uk

Journal Impact Factors – New tool for ranking nursing journals

The ISI Journal Citation Reports are the source of impact factors for journals. However, there have long been concerns about how suitable these are for disciplines such as nursing and midwifery. 

It is therefore interesting to look at research done in Australia. A new tool (JET – Journal Evaluation Tool) was designed to evaluate nursing and midwifery journals. Using this they have produced a ranking of some 52 titles.  

 You can see the rankings they produced in an article published in the July edition of  Nurse Education Today. Details of some of their earlier research (and earlier rankings) are also available on the website of the Centre for Health Initiatives, University of  Wollogong.

Making an impact: using Journal Citation Reports

Making an impact: using Journal Citation Reports and other tools to measure the impact of your research

Wed. 21st July 10 – 11, PC Room 3 in the Library

This session will look at the ways you can monitor the impact your publications are having, especially when considering the REF. We will also look at Researcher ID as a way of raising your own profile, Journal citation reports, and Web of Science facilities such as cited reference searching, citation mapping, times cited, citation alerts and amending your author name if necessary. To book a place email s.glen@swansea.ac.uk

There is also a new Library web page with further help and advice: Making an impact: using bibliometric tools to assess your research

Making an impact: using Journal Citation Reports and other tools to measure the impact of your research

Making an impact: using Journal Citation Reports and other tools to measure the impact of your research.

 Thursday 10^th June, 11 am-12, PC Room 3 in the Library

This session will look at the ways you can monitor the impact your publications are having, especially useful when considering the REF. We will also look at Researcher ID as a way of raising your own profile, Journal citation reports, Web of Science facilities such as cited reference searching , citation mapping, times cited, citation alerts and amending your own author name entry if necessary.

To book a place please e-mail  Michele.Davies@swansea.ac.uk

If you are interested in this topic but unable to make this session your subject librarian would be happy to arrange something for you http://www.swansea.ac.uk/lis/HelpandGuides/SubjectTeams/