ABS: Campbell, Journal Publishing, Journal Reputation, and the United Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise

[Gretchen Whitney]

Campbell K. "Journal Publishing, Journal Reputation, and the United
Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise", Journal of Law and Society 26(4):
470-501, DEC 1999

QUOTE

"One method commonly used to introduce an element of 'objectivity' to
journal quality evaluations is citation indexing, which involves counting
the number of times articles in particular journals are cited in other
sources. This method is commonly used in the sciences,18 and has been
frequently used as a measure of the relative merits of United States law
journals. 19 We have not used the citation-counting method for several
reasons. First, citation analy sis is only apparently objective; just like
any other system for evaluating "quality," it suffers from several
biases.20 For such analysis to be undertaken, the citing book or journal
must be recorded in some database;2 certain subjects are written about
more frequently than others, affecting the frequency of citation; and
citation counts can be skewed by "hat-tipping" citations (the citation of
prominent authors as a sign of respect rather than an indicator of
usefulness).22 One critic maintains that citation analysis "is not even a
reliable indicator that the work cited was read, let alone understood by
the citer".23 Moreover, not all cites are equal (although they are treated
that way in most citation-counting systems): a citation in a leading
journal or by the courts might mean more than other citations.24 Finally,
there is some evidence that the citation of articles (at least by some
United States law professors) has become a politicized process; some
writers have advocated "deliberate effort[s} to buy, order, read, cite,
discuss, and teach outsider scholarship", noting that citation counts
influence tenure and promotion decisions.25 More significantly, making an
"objective" analysis of journal quality was not the purpose of this study.
The focus is on the reputation of journals rather than any objective
measurement of their quality; it is perceptions of quality that influence
departmental decision-making in connection with the RAE. Accordingly, we
have employed two different methods for "ranking" journals that focus on
attitude measurement. With regard to journals iden tified in connection
with particular specialisms, each journal ranked by a respondent was
assigned a score ranging from "4" (for the respondent's top-ranked
journal) to " 1" (for the respondents’ fourth-ranked journal), and the
scores were tallied.26 The results of this process are set out in the
appendix to this article."

PT J
AU Campbell, K
   Vick, DW
   Murray, AD
   Little, GF
TI Journal publishing, journal reputation, and the United
   Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise
SO JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY
NR 23
C1 Univ Stirling, Dept Accounting Finance & Law, Stirling FK9 4LA,
   Scotland.
   Univ Stirling, Dept Accounting Finance & Law, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland.
ID CITATION
AB Many academic lawyers believe that the Research Assessment
   Exercise has encouraged writing for academic journals, often at
   the expense of other forms of scholarly discourse. Moreover, if
   is widely perceived that the reputation of the journal in which
   research is published affects how that research is assessed in
   connection with the RAE. In this article, the authors report
   data gathered from a large-scale study measuring the
   perceptions of academic lawyers concerning the journal
   publishing process, how the RAE has affected journal quality
   generally, and how specific journals rank in terms of academic
   quality and their perceived importance to the RAE process.
CR ALEXANDER JC, 1994, J FINANC, V49, P697
   ALRECK PL, 1995, SURVEY RES HDB, P35
   AUSTIN A, 1993, ARIZ L REV, V35, P829
   BALKIN JM, 1996, CHI KENT L REV, V71, P843
   BEALE H, 1998, PUBLISH LAW GREAT BR, P39
   BRINN T, 1996, PERCEPTIONS RES J QU, P26
   CRESPI GS, 1997, INT LAWYER, V31, P869
   CULLEN CM, 1995, CHI KENT L REV, V70, P1445
   FUNKHOUSER ET, 1996, HUM COMMUN RES, V22, P563
   GARFIELD E, 1979, CITATION INDEXING IT
   GOLDSTEIN J, 1991, YALE LAW J, V100, P1485
   GUMM JM, 1990, CHI KENT L REV, V66, P509
   HOWARD TP, 1981, ACCOUNT REV, V56, P613
   JARVIS RM, 1997, ARIZ L REV, V39, P15
   LEIGHTON P, 1995, TODAYS LAW TEACHERS, P42
   MANN R, 1986, JURIMETRICS, V76, P400
   MARU O, 1976, AM BAR FOUND RES J, P227
   MATSUDA M, 1988, HARVARD WOMENS LAW J, V11, P4
   MATSUDA MJ, 1988, HARV WOMENS LJ, V11, P1
   THORNE FC, 1977, J CLIN PSYCHOL, V33, P1157
   THORNE FC, 1977, J CLIN PSYCHOL, V33, P1159
   VICK DW, 1998, J LAW SOC, V25, P536
   VICK DW, 1998, J LAW SOC, V25, P554
BP 470
EP 501
PG 32
JI J. Law Soc.
PY 1999
PD DEC
VL 26
IS 4
GA 266XY
RP Campbell K
   Univ Stirling, Dept Accounting Finance & Law, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland.
J9 J LAW SOC
UT ISI:000084326600004
ER


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