CHOOSING THE APPROPRIATE MEDIUM FOR YOUR
PUBLICATION: JOURNAL SELECTION TACTICS
SCIENTIFIC
LAWRENCE LIBERTI, MS, RPh
VP, GENERAL MANAGER
JUNE 2008
Overview
• Journal Types
• Assessing Journal Characteristics
• Comparative Class Analyses
• Conclusions
Journal Selection is Key to Physicians
Liberti, Casebeer et al: 64th Annual AMWA Conference, Oct 2004, St. Louis MO
Journal Types
• Trade
• Peer-reviewed
– Print
– Online
– Open-access
• Society Sponsored
• Commissioned article journals
Open to
Your
Ideas
Rapid
Comm’s
Primary
Research
Reviews
Suppl’s
+++
+++
0
+
+
Print/ Online
++
+
+++
+++
++
Open Access
+++
+++
+++
+++
+++
+
0
0
++
+
Trade
Commissioned
Assessing Journal
Characteristics
• Journal statistics provide a systematic and
objective way to measure the influence of journals,
identify trends, categorize and characterize
journals
• Multiple metrics need to be considered
• Objective metrics
• Subjective metrics
• Confusing metrics
Sponsorship
• Society-sponsored
• Commercial published
• Partnership of society/academia – commercial
publisher
Editorial Board
• Does one exist?
• What is it’s role?
• How often do members changes?
• Are there potential conflicts of interest?
Reach/Readership/Audience
• Does the journal reach the desired audience?
• By what measure(s) is this determined?
• Quality of audience
• Quantity of audience
Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory
http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/
Publication “Lag Time”
• How long does it take to get an article
– Reviewed
– Accepted
– Published
• How important is rapidity of publication to the
particular research?
Source: TMMS, June 2008 Atrial Fibrillation TA
“Quality Scores”
• What metrics can be used to measure the quality
and relevance of information in a journal?
Quality Scores
– Faculty of 1000 (www.f1000medicine.com)
• Articles are identified and scored by “Faculty Members”
• Score 3,6,9 (recommend, must read, exceptional)
• Consistency, clinical relevance?
Quality Scores
• READER Scoring system
– Relevance- to my practice
– Education – influence on behavior
– Applicability – could it be used in practice?
– Discrimination- Quality of methodology and presentation
– Evaluation- scoring using above criteria
– Reaction- Four categories
• Classic paper, immediate impact
• Important enough to be filed
• Of possible interest
• Ignore
MacAuley D: Br J Gen Pract. 1994 Feb;44(379):83-5
Quality Scores
• Thomson Message Mapping SystemSM (TMMS)
• Scores based on
– Science - Source Score
– Quality – JIF
– Evidence – Message Factor
– Format – Letter, Brief Comm, Primary Article
http://www.thomsonreuters.com/products_services/scientific1/tmms
Source: TMMS, June 2008 Atrial Fibrillation TA
Other Journal Metrics
• Journal Citation Reports
Category data view
Similar statistics are provided for the
overall category, this provides
“benchmark” statistics for similar journals.
As with the journals, the details of the
calculation are provided for each metric
Key Citation Statistics and
additional valuable detail.
Explore relationships with
other journals through
“Cited” and “Citing” data.
Other Journal Metrics
• The Eigenfactor
• Eigenfactor.org is a non-commercial
academic research project sponsored by
the Bergstrom lab in the Department of
Biology at the University of Washington.
• Goal: to develop novel methods for
evaluating the influence of scholarly
periodicals and for mapping the structure of
academic research
The Eigenfactor
•
Ranks journals much as Google ranks
websites.
•
Measures journal price as well as citation
influence
•
Contains 100K+ reference items
•
Adjusts for citation differences across
disciplines
•
Uses 5-year citation data
Allows for Better Comparisons
Across Research Areas
http://www.eigenfactor.org/whyeigenfactor.htm
Eigenfactor and JCR
• With EF the review journals don’t appear at the top
of the ranking the way they do with the JIF
(possible strength)
• EF is a recursive formula that takes into account
the prestige of the journals that cite your
journal. Sometimes a relatively obscure journal
can be elevated if it gets cited by Science and
Nature
• EF is based on the JCR cited-citing matrix
• EF uses JCR “citable item” counts
• The algorithm similar to Google’s page rank
• Does EF magnifies the Matthew effect? (ie, “the
rich get richer”)
Journal Price
http://www.eigenfactor.org/whyeigenfactor.htm
Comparative Class Analysis
http://www.eigenfactor.org/whyeigenfactor.htm
Level of Discourse within a
Particular Journal
Journal Name
Audience
Number of Times Cited
American Society of Hypertension
cardio
163
Journal of Hypertension
cardio
153
International Society of Hypertension
cardio
83
European Heart Journal
cardio
55
American Journal of Hypertension
cardio
45
Conclusions
• Journal selection is important with respect to how
readers perceive published information
• Journal selection criteria are subject to
interpretation
• No single metric is capable of identifying the “right”
journal for a submission