Deciphering bibliometrics

lsevier spends a considerable amount each year on bibliometric research – the quantitative analysis of bibliographic information such as: titles, keywords, citations and authors. And a record number of bibliometric reports have been generated for Elsevier’s journals in the last 12 months.

Insight and advice
However, it can take specialist skills to decipher the complex array of bibliometric statistics. This is where Elsevier’s Academic Relations team play an important role - one of the key members of the department is Helen de Mooij. By helping editors gain a more thorough and accurate insight into what the statistics mean, identifying the various influences on the impact factor, and recommending a course to maintain or improve the impact factor, De Mooij is facilitating better journal performance management among editors.

In the course of her meetings with editors and editorial boards she encounters many myths and misconceptions about bibliometrics. This has prompted her to create a quick reference FAQ list [link] for the most common questions.

Common misconceptions
“The number one question I’m asked is ‘What has happened to our impact factor!’” reports De Mooij. This is not surprising considering that a journal’s impact factor is, despite the criticism it receives, the most commonly used measurement for a journal’s performance. A decreased impact factor can mean, among other things, a drop in submissions, failure to gain funding, and in the long-term, decreasing subscriptions.

“In answering this question, we firstly need to tackle if editors have correctly interpreted the data. If you ask three different editors what is an impact factor, you’ll get three different answers!” she says. “It is the most widely misunderstood bibliometric measurement.”

De Mooij explains, “The correct formula to calculate the impact factor is, in fact, is the number of citations in one year divided by the number of articles published in the previous 2 years”. (Click here for more information about the impact factor).

Frequent questions
Other frequently answered questions include, “What is a source item? What is a subject classification? What is the difference between different indexes? What do the citing and cited journal lists tell us?” Understanding bibliometrics will make it easier for the editor to manage their journal’s performance.

Once definitions have been clarified, influences on performance can be identified, and it is this analysis that provides valuable feedback to editors and editorial boards and solves specific queries.

Forecasting
“It’s all about using a historical perspective to gain an insight into the future – pointing out what is going to happen, the variables we have control over and therefore, how to influence the outcome,” De Mooij says.

If a journal is performing well it means it’s not only favorable for the editor but also for authors, referees, and number of submissions. “If you can influence the acceptance rate – you can potentially improve the quality of the papers, and hence the journal. We combine an editor’s gut feel with information from a number of tools developed by Elsevier, such as journal profiling, citation reports, market mapping, market share analysis, author feedback program and institutional profiling, to determine the way to move ahead. And we’ve had a good track record for being right,” says De Mooij “because we analyze the journal’s performance in the context of market developments.”

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For more information about bibliometric research contact your Publishing Editor.