Identification of Core Journals and Analysis of Collaboration Networks Among Researchers in Ibero America

Abstract

INTRODUCTION In this paper we survey scientific production published in Ibero American journals in four subject areas: Medicine, Education, Administration & Finance, and Psychology. The aim of the paper is to provide a view of the available state-of-the-art of Ibero American publications in Open Access journals compiled in well-respected repositories such as Redalyc. METHODS The scholarly Open Access production in Ibero America was analysed using data from Redalyc during the period between 2005 and 2007 for the four areas mentioned above, using data and metadata such as author affiliation and subject area. RESULTS The data analysis carried out in this paper identifies those journals that compose the core and first Bradford zone for the subject area in question. These journals are therefore those that condense the majority of relevant articles for a researcher in that particular field. The application of network analysis allows us to map the collaboration networks, per country, of researchers publishing in Ibero America. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION The analysis presented here reflects the status of journals in the areas in question reflecting the information held in the repository's database. The authors conclude that a careful revision and improvement of the requirements that editors and journals require of their authors is of paramount importance for emerging online electronic libraries such as Redalyc.

Provision and utilization of core cited journals in library and information science theses by postgraduate researchers in Nigeria

“…They are usually published quarterly, bimonthly or monthly and issues sold by subscription (Reitz, 2004). Journals convey research result based on latest development in a given field; find out what has been studied on one's topic and provide bibliographic details that point to other relevant researches (Echezona, Ugwu & Ukwoma, 2010).…”