Rowlands, I; Nicholas, D "The missing link: journal usage metrics" ASLIB PROCEEDINGS 59 (3). 2007. p.222-228

[Johan Bollen]

Hi all,

I have not yet had a chance to obtain a copy of the article, but I  
was surprised not to find the following among its 6 cited references:

Johan Bollen, Herbert Van de Sompel. Usage Impact Factor: the effects  
of sample characteristics on usage-based impact metrics. JASIST, in  
press (http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0610154, 2006)

Instead of examining the hypothetical value of easy-to-understand,  
usage-based metrics and the potential value of linking article  
publication year to full text downloads, this article actually:

1) introduces and calculates a "usage impact factor (UIF)" that links  
article publication year to full text downloads,
2) is based on a large-scale usage data set (one year of usage  
recorded by the California State University link resolvers),
3) investigates the UIF's properties for a range of scholarly  
communities, including their demographics, and perhaps most importantly:
4) clearly shows that link resolver log data, like many other sources  
of usage data, is far from "uninterpretable".

With regards to the last point, another article of relevance that  
seems to have not been picked up by the authors:

Johan  Bollen, Herbert Van de Sompel, Joan Smith, and Rick Luce.  
Toward alternative metrics of  journal impact: a comparison of  
download and citation data. Information Processing and Management, 41 
(6):1419–1440 (http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0503007)

Kind regards,

Johan.

----
Johan Bollen
Los Alamos National Laboratory (P362-proto)
Los Alamos, NM 87545
Ph: 505 606 0030, Fx: 505 665 6452
jbollen at lanl.gov, http://public.lanl.gov/jbollen
----


On Aug 31, 2007, at 12:29 PM, Eugene Garfield wrote:

> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>
> E-mail: i.rowlands at ucl.ac.uk
>
> TITLE:          The missing link: journal usage metrics (Article,  
> English)
>
> AUTHOR:         Rowlands, I; Nicholas, D
>
> SOURCE:         ASLIB PROCEEDINGS 59 (3). 2007. p.222-228 EMERALD  
> GROUP
>                 PUBLISHING LIMITED, BRADFORD
>
> Document Type: Article
> Language: English
> Cited References: 6      Times Cited: 0
>
> Abstract:
> Purpose - The aim of this short communication is to contribute to a  
> growing
> debate about how we can measure the "quality" of journals. More
> specifically, the paper argues the need for a new range of  
> standardized
> indicators based on reader (rather than author-facing) metrics.
> Design/methodology/approach - This is a thought experiment,  
> outlining the
> kinds of usage indicators that could be developed alongside the  
> traditional
> ISI measures of impact, immediacy and obsolescence.
>
> Findings - The time is ripe to develop a set of standardised.  
> measures of
> journal usage that are as easy to understand, and as universally  
> accepted,
> as ISI's current citation-based indicators. By linking article  
> publication
> year to full text downloads, this article argues that very  
> considerable
> value could be extracted from what, in many cases, is almost
> uninterpretable data.
>
> Practical implications - Indicators in the form proposed could find  
> a wide
> variety of applications, from helping librarians to assess the  
> potential
> value-for-money of bundled journal deals, to helping policy-makers and
> scholarly communication researchers to better understand the  
> dynamics of
> knowledge diffusion.
>
> Originality/value - The development of standardized usage factors  
> in the
> form suggested here would radically shift the centre of gravity in
> bibliometrics research from the author to the reader. This remains  
> largely
> unexplored territory.
>
>
> Addresses: Rowlands I (reprint author), Univ Coll London, Sch Lib  
> Archive &
> Informat Studies, CIBER, London WC1E 6BT, England
> Univ Coll London, Sch Lib Archive & Informat Studies, CIBER, London  
> WC1E
> 6BT, England
>
> Publisher: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LIMITED, 60/62 TOLLER LANE,  
> BRADFORD
> BD8 9BY, W YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND
> Subject Category: Computer Science, Information Systems; Information
> Science & Library Science
> IDS Number: 181AC
>
> ISSN: 0001-253X
>
> CITED REFERENCES :
> AMIN M
> PERSPECTIVES PUBLISH : 1 2000
>  DARMONI SJ
> Reading factor: a new bibliometric criterion for managing digital  
> libraries
> JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 90 : 323 2002
>  OBST O
> HLTH INFORMATION LIB 20 : 22 2003
>  ROWLANDS I
> Scholarly communication in the digital environment - The 2005  
> survey of
> journal author behaviour and attitudes
> ASLIB PROCEEDINGS 57 : 481 2005
>  TSAY MY
> Library journal use and citation age in medical science
> JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION 55 : 543 1999
>  WULFF JL
> Quality markers and use of electronic journals in an academic health
> sciences library
> JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 92 : 315 2004