Correlation between Journal Self-citation and Impact Factor in ISC's PJCR Agriculture and Veterinary Science Journals during 2001-2007

This study investigates correlation between journal self – citation and impact factor in Agriculture and Veterinary subject category through the scientific journals indexed in ISC's PJCR during 2001 to 2007. Citation analysis is used to conduct the research. The results indicate a significant correlation between impact factor and journal self – citation (r=0.425, sig= 0.000); that is, journals with low impact factor have less self – citation that indicates self – citation has a positive effect on impact factor. Pearson Correlation Coefficient demonstrates a relationship between impact factor and number of articles in negative side (r=-0.170, sig=0.037) that means the number of articles does not affect journal impact factor and also journals with more articles do not have higher impact factor. There is a significant relationship between the number of articles and journal self – citation (r= 0.596, sig = 0.000) that indicates the more number of articles the more number of self-citations. Findings show that journal self – cited rate in Agriculture and Veterinary subject category during 2001 to 2007 has undergone a descending process. After the removal of journal self – citation, the rank of 47 journals descended, 86 journals ascended, the rank of 18 journals did not change and the impact factor of 28 journals decreased to zero

The Islamic World Science Citation Center: A New Scientometrics System for Evaluating Research Performance in OIC Region

This article deals with the establishment of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) as the first citation system in the Islamic countries. It attempts to describe the mapping of ISC the way it has been established. At the time being, ISC has begun to evaluate the research performance of the Islamic countries. The required research journals from the Islamic countries are being collected and processed in different subsystems of ISC. The languages used by ISC, at present, include Farsi (Persian), Arabic and English

The Study of Thesaural Relationships from a Semantic Point of View

Thesaurus is one, out of many, precious tool in information technology by which information specialists can optimize storage and retrieval of documents in scientific databases and on the web. In recent years, there has been a shift from thesaurus to ontology by downgrading thesaurus in favor of ontology. It is because thesaurus cannot meet the needs of information management because it cannot create a rich knowledge-based description of documents. It is claimed that the thesaural relationships are restricted and insufficient. The writers in this paper show that thesaural relationships are not inadequate and restricted as they are said to be but quite the opposite they cover all semantic relations and can increase the possibility of successful storage and retrieval of documents. This study shows that thesauri are semantically optimal and they cover all lexical relations; therefore, thesauri can continue as suitable tools for knowledge management

Scientific Impact of Islamic Nations

This article has attempted to present a clear image of science production by the member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) based on the Essential Science Indicators (ESI). ESI indexes the most effective science productions of the world. The World Bank, on the other hand, has classified the countries of the world according to their economic position. Using the information accessible in these two sources, we examined the science production of each economic class, and then made a comparison between the Islamic and non-Islamic countries. The economic classes comprise the low-income, the lower middle-income, the upper middle-income, and the high-income nations. Our primary objective was to compare and contrast Islamic Countries versus the other countries of the world to show the status of their current scientific publications. Four major features characterize the statistical analysis of our study: population, economic class, citations, and publications in 22 disciplines and all fields of study as indexed in ESI

Online Search Skills of Shiraz University Post Graduate Students: A Survey

This survey attempted to measure online search skills amongst post graduate students of Shiraz University. Having examined the literature on online search skills, seven most frequently used and applicable online search skills were selected for this study. The two broad objectives were to measure the mean score of each skill and also the difference between students of different post graduate levels with regard to the application of online search skills. The data were collected by a questionnaire. Descriptive and referential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that there were not any significant differences between the M.A. and the Ph.D. students in the seven search skills examined. The within-group analysis revealed, however, a significant difference amongst these seven skills such that the 'time limitation' skill had the highest score but the 'proximity' skill was in the lowest level. Other findings showed that there was a significant correlation between the real skills' scores as well as the self report scores of the participants. Also, more than 84% of the students declared that their familiarity with these skills had helped them retrieve information in the least amount of time

Structural Investigation of Websites’ Ranking Systems in view of Information Retrieval

For years, search engines have been considered as one of the most frequently used information seeking tools through the web. Efficiency, ease of use andsearch quality are the main factors for giving precedence over search engines. Search quality is assessed based on the concept of page rank whichis applied to scoring web documents. The structures designed for linkage among the pages of a site as well as the linkage structure among the sitesinside a web are known as the most effective factor on page rank. This paper is to describe the concept of ranking web pages and investigate the structureof inter-linkage of pages

The role of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) and RANTES/CCL5 during chronic fungal asthma in mice1

In the present study, we explored the role of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) in a murine model of chronic fungal asthma induced by an intrapulmonary challenge with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia (or spores). Airway hyperresponsiveness was significantly lower in A. fumigatus‐sensitized mice lacking CCR5 (CCR5‐/‐) compared with similarly sensitized wild‐type (CCR5+/+) control mice at days 2, 21, 30, and 40 after the conidia challenge. CCR5‐/‐ mice exhibited significantly less peribronchial T‐cell and eosinophil accumulation and airway‐remodeling features, such as goblet cell hyperplasia and peribronchial fibrosis, compared with CCR5+/+ mice at these times after conidia. However, both groups of mice exhibited similar allergic airway disease at day 12 after the conidia challenge. In CCR5‐/‐ mice at day 12, the allergic airway disease was associated with airway hyperresponsiveness, peribronchial allergic inflammation, and goblet cell hyperplasia. Immunoneutralization of RANTES/CCL5 in sensitized CCR5+/+ and CCR5‐/‐ mice for 12 days after the conidia challenge significantly reduced the peribronchial inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in comparison with control wild‐type and knockout mice at this time. These data demonstrate that functional CCR5 and RANTES/CCL5 are required for the persistence of chronic fungal asthma in mice.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154329/1/fsb2fj010528fje.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154329/2/fsb2fj010528fje-sup-0001.pd

Airway hyperresponsiveness, but not airway remodeling, is attenuated during chronic pulmonary allergic responses to Aspergillus in CCR4‐/‐ mice

The role of CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4) during the development and maintenance of Th2type allergic airway disease is controversial. In this study, we examined the role of CCR4 in the chronic allergic airway response to live Aspergillus fumigatus spores, or conidia, in A. fumigatussensitized mice. After the conidia challenge, mice lacking CCR4 (CCR4‐/‐ mice) exhibited significantly increased numbers of airway neutrophils and macrophages, and conidia were more rapidly eliminated from these mice compared with control CCR4 wild‐type (CCR4+/+) mice. Significant airway hyperresponsiveness to intravenous methacholine was observed at day 3 in CCR4‐/‐ mice, whereas at days 7 and 30, airway hyperresponsiveness was attenuated in these mice compared with control mice. A major reduction in peribronchial and airway eosinophilia was observed in CCR4‐/‐ mice at all times after conidia challenge in contrast to CCR4+/+ mice. Further, whole lung levels of interleukin (IL) 4 and IL‐5 were significantly increased in CCR4‐/‐ mice at day 3, whereas these Th2 cytokines and IL‐13 were significantly decreased at day 30 in CCR4‐/‐ mice compared with their wild‐type counterparts. Peribronchial fibrosis and goblet cell hyperplasia were similar in both groups of mice throughout the course of this model. In summary, CCR4 modulates both innate and acquired immune responses associated with chronic fungal asthma.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154441/1/fsb2fasebj16100193-sup-0001.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154441/2/fsb2fasebj16100193.pd

Impact Factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?

A review of Garfield's journal impact factor and its specific implementation as the Thomson Reuters Impact Factor reveals several weaknesses in this commonly-used indicator of journal standing. Key limitations include the mismatch between citing and cited documents, the deceptive display of three decimals that belies the real precision, and the absence of confidence intervals. These are minor issues that are easily amended and should be corrected, but more substantive improvements are needed. There are indications that the scientific community seeks and needs better certification of journal procedures to improve the quality of published science. Comprehensive certification of editorial and review procedures could help ensure adequate procedures to detect duplicate and fraudulent submissions.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 6 table