Sanni, SA; Zainab, AN. 2010. Google Scholar as a source for citation and impact analysis for a non-ISI indexed medical journal. MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE 15 (3): 35-51

[Eugene Garfield]

Sanni, SA; Zainab, AN. 2010. Google Scholar as a source for citation and 
impact analysis for a non-ISI indexed medical journal. MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF 
LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE 15 (3): 35-51.

Author Full Name(s): Sanni, S. A.; Zainab, A. N.
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: Medical Journal of Malaysia; MJM; MyAIS; Publication 
Productivity; Citation analysis; Impact Factor; Indexation Status
KeyWords Plus: BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS; SCIENCE; INTERNATIONALIZATION; 
PUBLICATION; PATTERNS; SCIENTOMETRICS; WEB

Abstract: It is difficult to determine the influence and impact of journals which 
are not covered by the ISI databases and Journal Citation Report. However, 
with the availability of databases such as MyAIS (Malaysian Abstracting and 
Indexing System), which offers sufficient information to support bibliometric 
analysis as well as being indexed by Google Scholar which provides citation 
information, it has become possible to obtain productivity, citation and impact 
information for non-ISI indexed journals. The bibliometric tool Harzing's Publish 
and Perish was used to collate citation information from Google scholar. The 
study examines article productivity, the citations obtained by articles and 
calculates the impact factor of Medical Journal of Malaysia (MJM) published 
between 2004 and 2008. MJM is the oldest medical journal in Malaysia and the 
unit of analysis is 580 articles. The results indicate that once a journal is 
covered by MyAIS it becomes visible and accessible on the Web because 
Google Scholarindexes MyAIS. The results show that contributors to MJM were 
mainly Malaysian (91%) and the number of Malaysian-Foreign collaborated 
papers were very small (28 articles, 4.8%). However, citation information from 
Google scholar indicates that out of the 580 articles, 76.8% (446) have been 
cited over the 5-year period. The citations were received from both mainstrean 
foreign as well as Malaysian journals and the top three citors were from China, 
Malaysia and the United States. In general more citations were received from 
East Asian countries, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The 2-yearly impact factor 
calculated for MJM is 0.378 in 2009, 0.367 in 2008, 0.616 in 2007 and 0.456 in 
2006. The 5-year impact factor is calculated as 0.5: 77. The results show that 
although MJM is a Malaysian journal and not ISI indexed its contents have some 
international significance based on the citations and impact score it receives, 
indicating the importance of being visible especially in Google scholar.

Addresses: [Zainab, A. N.] Univ Malaya, Digital Lib Res Grp, Fac Comp Sci & 
Informat Technol, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Reprint Address: Sanni, SA, 54 Lekan Salami Complex, Ibadan, Nigeria.
E-mail Address: sanni_sharms at yahoo.com; zainab at um.edu.my
ISSN: 1394-6234
fulltext: http://majlis.fsktm.um.edu.my/document.aspx?FileName=956.pdf