Library and Information Science

This paper examines whether journals covered by the Brandon/Hill List (B/H List journals) could be sorted out by specific evaluation items based on data that can be obtained publicly. Suppose B/H List journals were positioned in the higher rank by specific evaluation items or combinations of items, then B/H List journals could be predicted to some extent using the evaluation items. That is, it would enable us to guess the selection criteria of the B/H List based on those evaluation items. Although it would not be possible to know the real criteria, reasonable equivalents to the selection criteria of the B/H List could be attained using those evaluation items.

Impact factor, cited number, citing number, number of articles, cited number/citing number rate, first-publication year, price, price per issue, number of libraries archiving the journal were used as the evaluation items. Data concerning these items were gained from public information resources. Cardiovascular system, internal medicine, and surgery were determined as sample fields from 46 fields of the B/H List 2001 edition. Journals from each field were selected from the journal list of the 2000 edition of Journal Citation Reports on CD-ROM Science edition (JCR). There were 63 cardiovascular journals (7 were B/H list journals), 94 were internal medicine (14 were B/H list journals), and 132 were surgery journals (7 were B/H list journals).

In the evaluation items scamined in this study, it became clear that “number of libraries archiving the journal” and “impact factor” can sort out the B/H List journals to some extent. However, B/H List journals were not completely sorted out by the evaluation items used in this research. This result suggests the need for seasoning with the additional factors such as experience, the intuition and other personal knowledge of the librarian, which cannot be expressed as an objective numerical value, to create journal selection criteria.