Building a Journal Collection

Tohoku University Library, Kanako Katsumoto 　

Aiko Watanabe

2-Step Map Evaluation Approach

OUTLINE

Tohoku University

Questions on Research Evaluation Using Citation Metrics

2-Step Map

Application to Library’s Collection Development

Effectiveness and Issues

Tohoku University

Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture

National university founded in 1907

Research-oriented university with 10 undergraduate departments and 15 graduate schools

Student Enrollment: 17,900; Number of Faculty and Staff: 5,000

“Research First”; ”Open Door”

　　　　 Sendai

● 　　 Tokyo

Sendai – “Mori no Miyako”

nature

vol.442, no.10, p714-716 (2006.8.10)

Library System

Main Library,4 Branch Libraries,13 Division Libraries Collection: Approx. 3.7 million Volumes No. of Staff: 130

Electronic Resources Environment

Site-wide license Web of Knowledge (Web of Science, JCR, ESI) OVID (MEDLINE, Current Contents, PsycINFO,

　　 ERIC, Biological Abstracts, CINAHL, EBMR) …

Resources maintained by faculty research fund SciFinder Scholar, CrossFire, INSPEC, …

Others Scopus, PubMed, …

Electronic Journal Environment

Paper version + EJ Package EJ

EJ Package EJ

Paper version + Paper version + … ＋ EJ

Which are “essential journals”?

What is the “fair cost burden”?

Electronic Journal Environment

Citations and Research Evaluation

The need for research evaluation

Introduction of “Web of Science” in 2001

Utilization as a research evaluation tool The number of citations

received by papers Impact factor of the journal

publishing those papers

Perhaps a little excessive?

Cautions for Use of Citation Metrics

Scope of journals included in the DB (Mostly European and American, Core journals only)

Field-dependent differences (Circumstances surrounding paper/citations)

The significance of citations (excessive self-citations, courtesy/critical citations)

Slippage loss of counting due to variants and journal title changes

Cautions for Use of Impact Factors

Average number of citations in the journal（ not each paper ）

Different citation trends by document type（ Review journals ）

Calculated for the past 2 years （ Basic v.s. applied fields ）

Differences between general and specialized journals

2-Step Map

Draw an arrow to the 2 highest citing journals (exclude self-citation)

Avoid overlapping of the arrows Present each journal proportionate to its publication size

B2.345

C3.242

A1.012Receiving many

arrows = Core

Advantages of 2-Step Map

Relationships between journals can be observed visually Tendencies that are often missed with citation metrics ca

n be recognized Journals that receive many arrows ＝ Core journals ≠ jo

urnals with high impact factors

Narin F, Carpenter MP, Berlt NC

“Interrelationships of scientific journals”

Journal of the American Society for Information Science

vol.23, p323-331, 1972

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

177 Journals

More than 100 papers

Top 50 journals by IF Review journals

not included

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

Physical Review B

Journal of Applied Physics

Applied Physics Letters

１２

３

４５

６７

８

９

10

2.255

3.075

4.308

４

13

10

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

１

２

３

４５

８

９

10

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

NANO

CHEMISTRY

６７

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

Acta MaterialiaMaterials Science & Engineering A

Physical Review B

１２

３

４５

６７

８

９

10

2.255

3.075

4.308

４

13

10

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (JCR 2004)

Creating a 2-Step Map

Review

Review

Review

Review

Review

177 Journals

More than 100 papers

Top 50 journals by IF

Journal Details

Basic Infor

mation

Categories

Detailed Calculation

Journal Details

founded in 2002?

Journal Details

Review journal verification

Source data for 2-Step Map!

Journal Details

Record top 3 citing journals

Application to Collection Development

Which are “essential journals”?

User Observation

Surveys

Usage Statistics

Impact Factor

2-Step Map?

Mapping Based on Subscriptions２０９ titles

JCROPAC

Journals subscribed at Agricultural Library (JCR 2004)

Drawn by Aiko WATANABE

Agricultural Library

On campus

Unpurchased

Drawn by Aiko WATANABE

Journals subscribed at Agricultural Library (JCR 2004)

The Journal of Biological Chemistry

NatureProceedings of

the National Academy of

Sciences, USA

Journals subscribed at Agricultural Library (JCR 2004)

ANIMAL

FOOD

FISHERIES

ANALYSIS

MEDICINE

AGRONOMYECOLOGY

PLANT

CELL

GEOPHYSICS BIOCHEMISTRY

Drawn by Aiko WATANABE

Advantages of Maps Based on Subscriptions

Degree of availability of journals receiving many arrows

Gaining an understanding of the importance of a journal

Relationships between fields and balance of journals purchased

Assessment by Researchers

Gaps between the arrow concentrations and their professional perceptions

Are maps based on subscriptions limited?

Example: Fisheries Science

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Limnology and Oceanography

What is Causing This Gap?

Citation data for non-subscribed journals also needed?

Citation data for related fields also needed?

Comparison of this map to another map including all journals in the field

Drawn by Aiko WATANABE

Fisheries + Marine & Freshwater Biology + Oceanography(JCR 2004)

Limnology and Oceanography

2-Step Map of the Overall Field

Map of all journals in the field + subscription information

Facilitates the holistic picture of the field

Helps to recognize essential journals that have not been subscribed

Effectiveness of 2-Step Map

Visually recognize the trends that are difficult to be drawn by citation metrics alone Journals with high IF values ≠ Journals that receive many arrows

Observe the relationships between journals and categories

Observe the research trends within fields Utility in journal collection development by adding subscri

ption information Utility for journal evaluation supplementing IF values

Researchers show high level of interest!

Issues Surrounding 2-Step Map

Limitations due to JCR

For 1-year sets of data, journals cited over a long period of time are not well presented

Journals included in the JCR are limited

Journals after title change are treated as new journals

Issues Surrounding 2-Step Map

Difficulty in Extracting Appropriate Field Research fields becoming interdisciplinary and segme

ntalized JCR Category ≠ Research focus of your institution

Complex nature of data extraction and map creation

Difficulty in Extracting Appropriate Field

Graduate School of Agricultural Science(Plant sciences) Plant Sciences → × 　 (Too broad) Agronomy 　 → × 　 (Content is irrelevant)

Essential to know the research focus before starting!

Field Analysis Based on Journal Usage Survey

Journals in Use (2005)

Journals in which our faculty published their work Journals that were cited in their work

Analysis of the use frequency and the fields of these journals

Extraction of Journals in Use

Journal that Published Paper

Citation Information

Publication Year ＋ Affiliation

１６３４ titles

43 categories１２３ titles

EJ available: 100

Not available on campus: 10

Items not indexed in JCR: 7

Analysis of Extracted Data

Creating a Map of Extracted Fields REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY (JCR 2005)

Used more than 10 times Used more than once

Non-subscribed journals

Human Reproduction

Drawn by Aiko WATANABE

2

3

2

1

1

23

6

4

3

6

4

2

4

41

24

1055

10

1524

15

Fisheries + Marine & Freshwater Biology + Oceanography(JCR 2004)

Effective Application to Library Collection Development

Determine the field(s) you wish to analyze

Create a 2-Step map with all journals in the field(s)

Add subscription information

Add usage frequency information

Multiple Indicators for Collection Development Use a variety of indicators to make multi-faceted and co

mprehensive evaluation Associate with the characteristics of the research focus Also keep in mind the characteristics of each journal

2-Step Map Impact Factors (2, 5, 10… years) Statistics on Electric Journals usage (COUNTER) Researcher surveys …

Conclusions Overcoming excessive reliance in impact factors

Providing researchers with accurate information

Enhancement of the JCR – for utilization of multiple indicators

Facilitating easier data extraction IF values longer than 2 years Refining category schemes Handling journal title changes

Thank you ！