Buela-Casal G, Medina A, Viedma MI, Godoy V, Lozano S, Torres G.. "Impact factor of three Spanish journals of psychology. " PSICOTHEMA 16 (4): 680-688 NOV 2004

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Addresses
G. Buela-Casal :  gbuela at ugr.es <mailto:gbuela at ugr.es

SINCE THE ORIGINAL PAPER IS IN SPANISH, THE AUTHORS HAVE VERY KINDLY
PROVIDED AN EXTENDED SUMMARY IN ENGLISH FOR THE BENEFIT OF OUR READERS WHO
DO NOT READ SPANISH.  THIS SUMMARY APPEARS BELOW AFTER "ABSTRACT"



Title:           Impact factor of three Spanish journals of psychology.
Author(s):       Buela-Casal G, Medina A, Viedma MI, Godoy V, Lozano S,
Torres G
Source:          PSICOTHEMA 16 (4): 680-688 NOV 2004

Language: Spanish
Cited References: 39

Abstract:
Impact factor of three Spanish journals of psychology. The present study
considers the necessity to study the impact factor of spanish psychology
journals. In order to show the viability of this type of study, three of the
most representative journals of spanish Psychology were selected: Papeles
del Psicologo, Analisis y Modificacion de Conducta y Psicothema. As sources
are used all those psychology journals that are edited in spanish and have
published all their issues for the year 2003 and that they fulfill some
given selections criterions. The bibliometric analysis was made by six
psychologists previously trained in an exhaustive procedure. The results
indicate that the three journals analyzed have a considerable impact factor
for the year 2003: Andlisis y Modificacion de Conducta (IF= 1,05); Papeles
del Psicologo (IF= 0,76) and Psicothema (IF= 0,60). This shows that the
first two journals have an important impact factor in spite of not being
included in the Journal Citation Reports and that Psicothema would actually
have a greater impact factor if these journals (these analyzed here) were
included in the databases of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
At Psicothema's specific case, it is argumented that the IF obteined in this
study (IF= 0,60) is more valid than the one aported by ISI (IF= 0,408) for
2003. As a conclusion it is illustrated the necessity to make this type of
analysis for all spanish journals of psychology.

________________________________________________________________


EXTENDED SUMMARY IN ENGLISH:

Gualberto Buela-Casal, Ana Medina, M. Isabel Viedma, Verónica Godoy,
Susana Lozano and Gloria Torres

University of Granada

The quality evaluation of scientific journals is currently an important
issue in Spain. The debate around this subject has been centred in the use
of the criteria developed by the Institute for Scientific Information
(ISI), and specifically the impact factor. At the moment, there are more
than 12.000 scientific journals published in Spanish and/or Portuguese in
South America. Nevertheless, ISI includes only 5% of them in its
databases. As a result, there are many important academic journals that
“do not have an impact factor” because it has never been calculated.
Particularly, in the area of Psychology, there exist only three
Spanish-American journals evaluated by the ISI, which means that less than
1% of them would have an “impact factor.” The assessment of the impact
factor of Spanish academic journals is therefore an issue of utmost
importance, since this is at present the main indicator of scientific
productivity. Thus, this study aimed at demonstrating the viability of
evaluating Spanish Psychology journals using the same criteria as ISI. In
short, three of the most representative journals in the area of Spanish
Psychology were analyzed: Análisis y Modificación de Conducta, that is
specialized in the area of Clinical Psychology and notably is the only
Clinical Psychology journal in Spain maintained by its subscribers since
it was first published in 1975; Papeles del Psicólogo, a journal of the
Official College of Psychologists that publishes more than 30.000 copies
annually and thus is one of the mostly consulted journals among Spanish
psychologists; and finally Psicothema, selected primarily for being the
only Spanish Psychology Journal included in the Journal Citation Reports
(JCR) and also because we were interested in testing whether the impact
factor of a Spanish journal included in the JCR is smaller due to the
exclusion of references originating from other Spanish journals not
analyzed by the ISI.

In the present study we analyzed references of the journals Psicothema,
Papeles de Psicólogo and Análisis y Modificación de Conducta, in
Psychology journals published in Spanish in the year 2003. We used as a
reference pool all those Spanish Psychology journals that had published
all their 2003 issues at the moment of the analysis and also met certain
other selection criteria. The assessment of the data was carried out
independently by four evaluators, in such a way that each journal was
revised by two evaluators. Each couple of evaluators examined all the
references, indicating those of articles published in Psicothema, Análisis
y Modificación de Conducta and Papeles del Psicólogo. For the bibliometric
analysis we used indices proposed by the ISI, such as the impact factor,
the immediate index, the total number of references per year and the
self-references index. Another index that we measured and is not used by
the ISI, was the percentage of reference interaction.

According to our analysis, the impact factor for the year 2003 is 1,05 for
Análisis y Modificación de Conducta,  0,76 for Papeles del Psicólogo  and
0,60 for Psicothema. Therefore, we can affirm that these journals have a
considerable impact, keeping in mind that in all three cases the impact
factor is significant, given that these numbers are reached analyzing a
pool of only 23 journals. It is logical to assume that the bigger the
number of journals used as data source, the greater the possibility of
locating references of a given journal.

The significant impact factor of Análisis y Modificación de Conducta can
be explained to some extent if we consider the fact that this journal
publishes very few articles per issue (between 4 and 5) which are
furthermore quite extensive. Another factor that possibly influences this
result is that most of the source journals used in this study belong to
the area of Clinical Psychology, citing therefore journals from the same
area as is the case with Análisis y Modificación de Conducta. Finally, it
is worth mentioning that in the year 2003 (the period analyzed) this
journal published a monographic on a “hot” subject, potentiating this way
its number of references. This journal’s high impact factor situates it in
the 42nd place, in a total of 82 Clinical Psychology journals.

 Regarding Papeles del Psicólogo, its impact factor is partially explained
by its great diffusion, given that it sells 30.000 copies annually. This
journal also publishes articles that are of utmost importance to
psychologists, another factor that contributes to its high impact factor.
It is situated in the 48th place, in a total of 102 journals from the
area of multidisciplinary Psychology.

 Before commenting on the impact factor of Psicothema, we want to stress
that the procedure used in this study is much more accurate than the
automated procedure carried out by the ISI, which, as has been
demonstrated, generates a considerable number of errors. Moreover, it is
important to specify that in our study we considered real references,
assessing references contributed by other scientific Psychology journals
that are not included in the ISI databases. Although in the 2003 Journal
Citation Report Psicothema, a multidisciplinary Psychology journal,
obtained an impact factor of 0,408, we thought appropriate to include the
references it received by other journals considered in this study and
therefore assign it an impact factor of 0,60.

To conclude, the most important contribution of this study is the
demonstration that the impact Papeles del Psicólogo and Análisis y
Modificación de Conducta have on the scientific community is superior to
many other Psychology journals that are included in JCR. We also showed
that the impact factor of Psicothema would be higher if the ISI was
assessing more Spanish Psychology journals. We want to emphasize that this
article’s objective was not to evaluate the quality of the analyzed
journals, but to estimate  their diffusion and impact on the scientific
community reminding that a high impact factor is not always synonymous to
quality. In this study we sought to demonstrate that the calculation of
diverse bibliometric indices of journals not included in the databases of
the ISI is a valuable and feasible task. Our objective has not been to
invalidate the indices contributed by the ISI, but rather to supplement
them, including a series of journals published in the same language and in
the same cultural and geographical environment.

_____________________________________________________________


Addresses: Buela-Casal G (reprint author), Univ Granada, Fac Psicol,
Granada, E-18071 Spain
Univ Granada, Fac Psicol, Granada, E-18071 Spain

Publisher: COLEGIO OFICIAL DE PSICOLOGOS DE ASTURIAS, ILDEFONSO S. DEL RIO,
4-1 B, 33001 OVIEDO, SPAIN

IDS Number: 864XO

ISSN: 0214-9915

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