New Journals in Education and Psychology: General Trends, Discoverability, and Ubiquitous Journals of the Decade, 2000–2009

Abstract

This study identified nearly 700 English-language refereed journals in education and psychology that were founded in 2000–2009. Part one discusses the publishers, format, open-access availability, and current status of these publications. Titles were then searched against coverage lists of EBSCO Academic Search Complete, Gale Academic OneFile, ProQuest Central, ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science, DOAJ, Google Scholar, WorldCAT, and the library catalogs of the “Big Ten” universities to determine whether databases and libraries include these new publications. Subscription database coverage was poor, ranging from 8.8 percent (ProQuest Central) to 42.0 percent (PsycINFO). Psychology materials were heavily favored over education items in several databases. Although some library catalogs provide better title-level coverage, they are unable to search individual articles. Google Scholar only indexed the publishers’ versions of the journals in 143 (58.0%) of 247 cases examined. Significant differences in database coverage and library holdings were found when comparing publications of major corporations (Elsevier, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, Sage, Springer, and Wiley) against periodicals produced by smaller companies, colleges/universities, and scholarly/professional organizations. This article also describes a “ubiquity index” devised by the author to identify approximately 70 “journals of the decade” based on database coverage and library holdings. The study provides much cause for concern about the comprehensiveness and currency of existing discovery tools. It also offers evidence that the relationship between libraries and publishing conglomerates deserves further examination.

Education journals: Two decades of change and implications for the field

“…During the past two decades, many changes have occurred in educational research, including methods, media, collaboration, and the nature of intellectual property. Scholarly journals that disseminate educational research have proliferated during the past two decades (Wellington & Nixon, ), with more than 300 new education journals founded between 2000 and 2009 alone (Lear, ). With increasing pressure to publish in higher education, the number of publication outlets has also increased (West & Rich, ).…”