Upeksha Perera and ManjulaWijewickrema 35 Relationship between Journal-Ranking Metrics for 18.1. a Multidisciplinary Set of portal Journals Upeksha Perera and ManjulaWijewickrema publication, for abstract: Ranking of scholarly journals is important to many parties. Studying the relationships among various ranking metrics is key to understanding the significance of one metric based on another. This research investigates the relationship among four major journal-ranking indicators: the impact factor (IF), the Eigenfactor score (ES), the acceptedh-index (hI), and SCImago Journal Rank (SJR). The authors used 519 journals from a diverse range of subjects and executed a correlation analysis. The results show that a higher correlationand exists between impact factor and SCImago Journal Rank (0.796). However, a very strong positive correlation between two metrics does not necessarily imply that journals are ranked according to the same pattern. edited, copy Introduction t is important for a researcher to know the rank of the journal to which he or she intends to submit a manuscript for numerous reasons, including to identify the most appropriate journals for publishing, to form an idea about the level of journals, and to Iidentify the reviewed,publishing outlets that could advance the author’s career.1 Bibliometrics, the statistical analysis of journals and similar publications, has introduced journal-ranking indicatorspeer for evaluating publication outlets. These metrics are defined by how they reflectis the properties of the considered journals. Having an idea about the relationships among different ranking indicators is important to predict the behavior of one metric mss.based on another. For instance, some metrics emphasize popularity, while others indicate prestige.2 Hence, a relationship between the metrics of popularity and prestige could be used to illustrate the performance of one metric in comparison to another. This portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 18, No. 1 (2018), pp. 35–58. Copyright © 2018 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218. 36 Relationship between Journal-Ranking Metrics for a Multidisciplinary Set of Journals The relationships between journal ranking metrics are important to authors as well as to publishers. From the author’s It is important for a researcher to point of view, the knowledge of rank- know the rank of the journal to which ing metrics and their associations helps to submit manuscripts to balanced he or she intends to submit a manu- journals. For example, an author might select journals that are balanced in both script for numerous reasons, includ- 18.1. ing to identify the most appropriate popularity and prestige. Zao Liu and Gary Wan reveal that publishers, ad- journals for publishing, to form an ministrators, and librarians also want 3 portal idea about the level of journals, and to collect these measures. The admin- istrators of academic institutions are to identify the publishing outlets that eager to obtain journal-ranking metrics could advance the author’s career. because a part of academic tenure and promotions is based on them. In the case of the publisherspublication, and editors of journals, these ranks and their relationship reveal the status of journals.for In addition, librar- ians can often refer to these statistics to decide journal subscriptions and allocate funds. Researchers have already conducted studies to develop new ranking indicators and to find relationships among existing metrics. Furthermore, almost all these attempts have 4 identified both strong and feeble characteristics ofaccepted the existing indicators. However, most studies have focused on the correlation between a limited number of metrics: in 5 most cases, only the journal impact factor andand the h-index. It is relatively difficult to find comparison studies between the Eigenfactor score and SCImago Journal Rank. By contrast, our study reveals relationships among several metrics and hence goes beyond the earlier studies. We selected four frequently used metrics—impact factor, Eigenfactor score, h-index, and SCImago Journaledited, Rank—for the comparison because the monitoring of the scientific influence of journals still relies on them. Previous studies chose copytheir study samples from a single subject stream, and their results may vary based on the context or the size of the selected sample of journals. Thus, their results cannot be generalized to The size of the journal, the type of all disciplines. However, the current articles it publishes,reviewed, the language of study does not confine itself to a cer- the journal, open or closed access, and tain subject domain, and, as a result, the findings can be generalized more even thepeer subdiscipline of the journal accurately. There are disputes about is could impact citation-based metrics. applying metric comparison studies across different subjects.6 However, mss. we question this argument because the diversity of subjects is not the sole factor that affects these comparisons. The size of This the journal, the type of articles it publishes, the language of the journal, open or closed access, and even the subdiscipline of the journal could impact citation-based metrics. Upeksha Perera and ManjulaWijewickrema 37 Importance The introduction of this paper explains the significance of comparison studies among journal-ranking metrics. However, there are more reasons to give further attention to studies of journal ranking. With the rapid increase of commercial publishers, academic publishing has gradually turned into a profit-oriented industry. Consequently, many predatory journals charge publishing fees to authors without providing legitimate editorial and publishing ser- 18.1. vices. It is difficult to keep authors from being exploited by these journals due to their higher acceptance rates and the ease of publish- ing in them.7 Predatory journals do not ensure Most academic institutionsportal quality or help scholars advance their careers, consult journal-ranking lists however, so authors should be encouraged to publish in more reputable journals whenever for evaluating the academic possible. They should avoid “wasting” an ar- achievements of their scholars. ticle that might be more widely read and cited publication, if it were published in a better journal. Thus, the existence of reliable journal-ranking systems is important tofor make a good decision about the submission venue. Most academic institutions consult journal-ranking lists for evaluating the academic achievements of their scholars. However, the ranking lists can be biased for several rea- sons.8 For example, the personal preferences of the acceptedcommittee members or the expert who prepared the list can lead to the incorrect ranking of a journal. Hence, developing new journal-ranking metrics and studying existingand systems are crucial to ensure accurate lists. Studies of journal ranking are also important for the wider academic community. For instance, although the impact factor receives the extensive attention of scholars, it is limited to the journals indexed edited,by Thomson Reuters. Not everyone can pay to access these impact factor reports, keeping some scholars away from their use. More studies are imperative for a wider copycommunity of authors to get the maximum benefit of ranking metrics with the least restrictions. Scholarly works are not confined to articles published in journals. They also appear in a range of formats, such as conference presentations, video demonstrations, workshop activities, and the like. However, it is difficult to find proper methodologies for ranking these other reviewed,formats. As the number of formats is increasing with the development of technology, the need for new methodologies to rank them is vital. Expansionpeer of journal ranking studies is rushing to achieve these goals, and many youngis researchers are enthusiastic to learn about this field. Librarians play an impor- tant role in directing new scholars toward valid journal-ranking measures. As a result, mss.libraries in many academic institutions have developed comprehensive subject guides to lead researchers to explore the field further. In addition, these guides assist authors This in finding the most appropriate journal outlets to which to submit their manuscripts. This paper provides a list of online subject guides developed by university libraries (see the Appendix). 38 Relationship between Journal-Ranking Metrics for a Multidisciplinary Set of Journals Four Ranking Metrics The current study attempts to find relationships among four metrics: impact factor, Eigenfactor score, h-index, and SCImago Journal Rank. A short introduction to these four metrics is appropriate. Impact Factor The impact factor is one of the most widely employed metrics in academia. It is often 18.1. used to assess the relative importance of a journal. In general, impact factor values are calculated for the journals indexed by Thomson Reuters and published yearly in Journal Citation Reports. The impact factor of a two-year time window is defined as the ratioportal between the numerator—that is, the number of citations received by the journal in the current year to the articles published in the two preceding years—and the denominator, the total number of citable articles published in the journal within the same two years. Although impact factor has received significant attention from scholars, it is criticized for its limitations. One limitation involves increasing a journal’s impactpublication, factor