Scientometric Data and Open Access Publication Policies of Clinical Allergy and Immunology Journals

Abstract

Introduction The scientific merit of a paper and its ability to reach broader audiences is essential for scientific impact. Thus, scientific merit measurements are made by scientometric indexes, and journals are increasingly using published papers as open access (OA). In this study, we present the scientometric data for journals published in clinical allergy and immunology and compare the scientometric data of journals in terms of their all-OA and hybrid-OA publication policies. Methods Data were obtained from Clarivate Analytics InCites, Scimago Journal & Country Rank, and journal websites. A total of 35 journals were evaluated for bibliometric data, journal impact factor (JIF), scientific journal ranking (SJR), Eigenfactor score (ES), and Hirsch index (h-index). US dollars (USD) were used for the requested article publishing charge (APC). Results The most common publication policy was hybrid-OA (n = 20). The median OA publishing APC was 3000 USD. Hybrid-OA journals charged a higher APC than all-OA journals (3570 USD vs. 675 USD, p = 0.0001). Very strong positive correlations were observed between SJR and JIF and between ES and h-index. All the journals in the h-index and ES first quartiles were hybrid-OA journals. Conclusion Based on these results, we recommend the use of SJR and ES together to evaluate journals in clinical allergy and immunology. Although there is a wide APC gap between all-OA and hybrid-OA journals, all journals within the first quartiles for h-index and ES were hybrid-OA. Our results conflict with the literature stating that the OA publication model's usage causes an increase in citation counts.

A comparison of scientometric data and publication policies of ophthalmology journals

“…Similar studies of hematology, and clinical allergy and ımmunology journals conducted previously have reported similar correlations as in the current study. [ 11 12 ] In another study that compared the scientometric indexes of journals in the fields of radiology, nuclear medicine, and medical ımaging, higher correlation coefficients than those of the current study were obtained. [ 20 ] In a study that examined journals in the field of sleep science, the journal found to have the highest JIF value was observed to be a review journal, and JIF was almost twice as high as the next nearest journal.…”

“…Studies related to hematology, and clinical allergy and ımmunology journals have shown that despite a strong correlation between different scientometric indexes, as seen in the current study, there was variability in the comparisons of the point rankings of the indexes of these journals. [ 11 12 ] The results obtained in the current study suggest that the comparisons of the scientometric index are directly specific to the scientific branch publishing the journal in question and the structure of the scientometric indexes. According to the results of the present study, the correlation between the SJR and JIF was strong enough to be used interchangeably for ophthalmology journals.…”

“…Although the median attributable OA article percentage in these journals was low (5.37%), this value was determined to be similar to the value in both hematology journals (5.94%) and clinical allergy and immunology journals (3.26%). [ 11 12 ] Only 10 journals had a full OA publishing policy, and seven of these applied the full OA model with a mandatory OA APC charge. Similar to the results reported previously for hematology, and clinical allergy and ımmunology journals, no significant difference was determined in the scientometric data favoring the full OA model.…”

“…Similar to the results reported previously for hematology, and clinical allergy and ımmunology journals, no significant difference was determined in the scientometric data favoring the full OA model. [ 11 12 ] However, in another study that examined the citation rate of scientific articles in the field of ophthalmology according to the OA publishing policy, this policy was seen not to affect the number of citations. [ 25 ] In contrast, in the current study, the OA articles published in journals with a hybrid OA publishing policy were seen to receive a median of 1.17-fold more citations compared to all the articles.…”

“…Therefore, it has been recommended that evaluation and comparison of scientometric indexes should be made specific to the scientific field. Although various studies have compared scientometric indexes in other areas of medicine,[ 10 11 12 ] and there have been publications of the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) articles on the scientometric data of ophthalmology journals recently,[ 13 14 ] comparisons of scientometric data in ophthalmology journals, specifically the comparisons of scientometric data regarding different OA publications models are limited.…”