Taylor, L. and Willett, P. orcid.org/0000-0003-4591-7173 (2017) Comparison of USA and UK rankings of LIS journals. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3). pp. 354-367. ISSN 2050-3806
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate UK academics’ views of the importance and prestige of journals relevant to library and information science (LIS) teaching and research. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire, based on one used previously in the USA, was sent to UK academics involved in LIS teaching and research. The questionnaire asked respondents to rate the importance of 87 LIS journals, to suggest others that were of importance to them but that were not amongst the 87, and to identify the five most prestigious journals for promotion purposes. In addition, those journals were identified that had figured in institutional submissions to the LIS Unit of Assessment in Research Excellence Framework (REF). Findings – While there was a fair measure of overall agreement between US and UK rankings of the 87 journals, with both highlighting the standing of the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology and of the Journal of Documentation, some substantial differences were also noted. Evidence is presented for a strong locational component to academics’ assessments of journal prestige, and analysis of the REF2014 submissions demonstrates the highly inter-disciplinary nature of LIS research in the UK. Research limitations/implications – The sample size is small, comprising 30 completed responses. Originality/value – This is the first study to report UK academics’ rankings of LIS journals, and to compare those with comparable data for US academics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Emerald, 2017. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Aslib Journal of Information Management. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Research Excellence Framework; Journal ranking; LIS research; Inter-disciplinarity; Journal prestige; LIS teaching |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 Feb 2017 16:16 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jul 2017 04:19 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-08-2016-0136 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/AJIM-08-2016-0136 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:112120 |