Research Article: “How Faculty Define Quality, Prestige, and Impact Of Academic Journals”
The article linked below was recently published by PLOS One.
Title
How Faculty Define Quality, Prestige, and Impact Of Academic Journals
Authors
Esteban Morales
University of British Columbia
Erin C. McKiernan
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Meredith T. Niles
University of Vermont
Lesley Schimanski
Simon Fraser University
Juan Pablo Alperin
Simon Fraser University
Source
PLoS ONE 16(10): e0257340.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257340
Abstract
Despite the calls for change, there is significant consensus that when it comes to evaluating publications, review, promotion, and tenure processes should aim to reward research that is of high “quality,” is published in “prestigious” journals, and has an “impact.” Nevertheless, such terms are highly subjective and present challenges to ascertain precisely what such research looks like. Accordingly, this article responds to the question: how do faculty from universities in the United States and Canada define the terms quality, prestige, and impact of academic journals? We address this question by surveying 338 faculty members from 55 different institutions in the U.S. and Canada. While relying on self-reported definitions that are not linked to their behavior, this study’s findings highlight that faculty often describe these distinct terms in overlapping ways. Additionally, results show that marked variance in definitions across faculty does not correspond to demographic characteristics. This study’s results highlight the subjectivity of common research terms and the importance of implementing evaluation regimes that do not rely on ill-defined concepts and may be context specific.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.