Nunamaker, J. F.

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Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)ICIS 1980 Proceedings International Conference on Information Systems(ICIS)1980PUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF THESCIENCE CITATION INDEXJ. F. NunamakerUniversity of ArizonaFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1980This material is brought to you by the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in ICIS 1980 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationNunamaker, J. F., "PUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF THE SCIENCE CITATION INDEX" (1980). ICIS 1980 Proceedings. 7.http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1980/7111111111! 111 P'11111!l IllI 111 liliPUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF THESCIENCE CITATION INDEXJ. F. NUNAMAKERCollege of Business and Public AdministrationUniversity of ArizonaINTRODUCTIONThe objective of this paper is to and is therefore important to those whodiscuss the role of professional journals receive information as well as to thoseand publications in the field of who supply information by publishing inIn formation Systems. The list of journals the journal. As a vehicle forpresented first is not intended to be all communication, journals are of greatinclusive; it should be taken as a importance to those in the academicstarting point for building a profession.comprehensive list, reflecting theauthor's view of the available outlets for While journals, especially those oftechnical papers. recognized prestige, enjoy a significantinfluence within a given discipline, theThe second part of the paper suggests exact nature of that influence changes asthe the Science Citation Index is a useful a field grows and matures. For example,tool to evaluate the quality of published for a newly emerging discipline such aspapers on the basis of their use as Information Systems, a journal serves bothreferences by users of journals in to highlight the range of current interestInformation Systems, who range from and to identify some of the keyresearchers and educators to individuals contributing to the field andpractitioners. This is much more true in to define the dimensions of theirInformation Systems than in other academic interests. During the developmental phasedisciplines. the journal serves to document the dynamicnature of the evolution of the disciplineand to offer a place where proponents ofAny journal is produced for a new directions may voice their opinions.particular group of professional readers. If a journal aims to serve the wholeFor example, the Journal o_f the ACM is discipline, and does its job well, it willaimed at a very mathemaTI-26-I--and achieve paramount influence in the field.theoretical audience. ThS £222Eti 2Survery is intended to be a tutorial aid As a field matures, sub-groups whichand Datamatjion is geared toward the tend to have narrow scope yet intensepractitioner. interest in increasing the depth ofknowledge in their specific concentrationtend to emerge. Witness the spin-offPUBLICATIONS from The Communications 21 the ACM, thejourn-3-I-2 such as TODS (TransacETon onIt is clear that written communication Data Systems) , TOF-EAT (Transactions Onserves as a vehicle for the dissemination Programming Language Systems) and TOMSof research results and ideas. A common irransaccicins in Mathematical So fwa-reTTway to enforce quality standards of a Most journals/-however, aim at a singleparticulate publication is to submit group or a related group of segmentspapers for consideration to the peer within the field. Since some segments arereview process. This approach to more powerful than others, the journalsassurance of quality articles often is serving the more powerful groups usuallyused as the criteria distinguishing have more influence and greater statureresearch publications from other within the profession than do others.publications.To illustrate the effects journalsBecause journals provide a means of have, consider the influence of ahost ofcommunications among people interested in scholarly publications on Informationa certain discipline, their focuses often Systems as a discipline. It turns outoverlap with those of other journals, yet that 10-15 Prominent journals areeach tries to keep a distinct identity and considered to be of significance in theserve the unique needs of its readers. A field, while others play a very minorjournal is intended to provide a forum, role. Together, the "majors" and "minors•217span the field, from behavioral aspects to numerous examples that illustrate how thetechnology and from overview to bits and significance of an article is related tobytes. the number of times a year it is cited.The number of citations may in fact turnIn the field of information systems and out to be much more valuable than thecomputers there are now in excess of 130 quality of the journal in which thepublications. Since the field is article originally appeared. The numberexperiencing dynamic growth, it becomes of citations is, in effect, a broadeningdifficult to define the exact orientation of the peer review process. In the reviewof certain journals. Repositioning is only two or three reviewers evaluate acontinually taking place, as basic paper. If the same paper ends up beingobjectives are modified to achieve referenced 50 times per year for years, Iinfluence as the discipline matures. When would conclude that a paper so often citedthe discipline of Information Systems and. is a highly significant piece of work.computers matures, its journals willachieve the resolution and alignment thathas occurred in other academic fields. SCIENCE CITATION INDEXAt this moment it may be most useful Published every two months and thensimply to survey the journals, listed in gathered into annual volumes, ScienceTable 1, whose primary focus is filation Index (SCI) provides ainformation systems and computers. A conv -lent,-68-m-prehensive listing ofsummary for each journal or publication in articles used as references in theInformation Systems is given in a working Management Information professionalpaper by Nunamaker (1). In the working literature.paper an attempt is made to summarize thepositioning and publication philosophies Science Citation Index has two components,of a subset of the journals. a Citation Index and a Source Index,making it possible to determine both thenumber of times a particular article wasUSE OF CITATIONS cited in the literature and thebibliographic information of eachThe extent of citation of journal articles citation. Science Citation Index containshas considerable overall influence on a two types of information: TIFFreviouslydiscipline. By citation we mean the published articles by Nunamaker that wereprocedure of citing a particular cited during the period covered by thepublication as a reference. The index, and (2) New articles publishedbibliography or list of references at the during the period covered by the indexend of a professional journal article is that cited one of the Nunamaker articles.the place where citation most often ispositioned. In a sense, the journals For example, to determine the use of anreference themselves and each other, so a article as a citation:tally of these citations provides ameasure not only of the articles' 1. Begin with a reference.usefulness but of the way journals rank ininfluence. Normally a citation tabulation 2. Enter the appropriate Citation Indexwill indicate which journals are the Section and find a list of current'opinion leaders" and, typically, the works which cite the startingresults of such a tabulation are readily re ference.acccepted. It behooves an assistantprofessor desiring tenure to target his 3. In the Source Index, look up thosearticle submission to those journals most current works you have found and findoften cited in the publication of their full titles and completeacademic and research materials. Two bibliographic descriptions.interesting articles that deal withcitation analysis have been written bySubramanyan and Hirst (3). The Source Index gives the completebibliographic reference to new articlesScience Citation Index exemplifies a that cite Nunamaker. An example ofsource 0 2--v-aluSEI-e -in-Fo-rmation regarding partial search for 1979 references tothe citing of articles. It offers articles by Nunamaker:218PUBLICATIONS VS. IMDE} SERVICESTITLE AST 1 B P I B T I C A 1.C CCA CIS CR E E[A A ISA MLA PX 08 SCI 911Acta Informatica X XArtificial lnteillgence X X X X X XAustralian Coiputer Journal XXX XBell Systems Technical Journal X XXXX X X XXBlt (Copenhager,) X X X X X X XCommunication/ACM XXX XXX XXXX X XComputer X X X X X X XComputer Decisions X X X X X I XComputer Journal X XXXXXXXJ[XXX X XC..puter and Sy,tem SciencesComputing Sul·ver X X X X X X XData Base X X XData Management X XXX X  X XDatamation X X X X X I X X X X XEDP Analyzer X ·X XXHarvard Bu.iness Review X X X X XHoneywell Computer Journal X X X X1W1 Journal of Research & Development XXXXXX X XX1BM Systems Journal X X X XXXX XXX XXXIEEE Transactions on: Comuters XXX X X XXX X X X XIEEE Transactions on: Software EngineeringIEEE Transactions on: Systems, Man & Cybernetics X X X X X X X X X XINFOR X X X XInformation Processing Letters I X XInformation Processing & ManagementInformation Processing In JapanInformation Sciences X X X XInformation Systitsinfornition and ControlInfosyste,8 X X X X IXXX XInternational Journal of Computer andInformtion SciencesJournal of Computer 4 System SQiences XXX XXXXXXX XJournal of Educational Data Processing XXX X XJournal of Systems Management X X X X X XIJournal of the ACM X X X XXXX X X X XIJournal of the ASIS XXXXX XXX XMaidgement DatamaticsManaqemelit Science X X X X X X X XMIS QuarterlyModern Data X X X X X XOperations Research X X X X X X X X X X X XOperational Research Quarterly X X X X X X XX XOutput XStAM Journals on: Computing XSimulation XXX XXXX XX XSoftware--Practice and Experience X X · ISOS (Systems. Objectives. Solutions)Transactions on Data Base Systems(ACM)KEY' CR - Computing Reviews (CA 36, CC 4)El - Engineering Index (CA 48)ASTI - Appled Science & Technology Index (CA 8) IAA . International Aerospace Abstracts {CA 72)BPI - Business Periodicats Index (CA 16) ISA - tiforTTution Science Ab,tracts (CA 64)BTI - British Technoloq, Index (CA 12) NLA - New Literature on Automation (CA 80)CA - Computer Abstracts (CA 24) PX - Pandex (CA 84)CC - Current Contents: Engineer,„1 & Technology edition (CS 81 Q8 - Quarterly Bibliography of Conouters & Dita Proce,sing (CA 86)CCA - Computer and Contrnl 1&tracts (CA 28) SCI - Science Citation Index (CA 831CIS - Computer and Infoni,ation Syst/Ins (CA 32) SPN - SIGPI AN Notices (CA 112. JBA ]44)By following this procedure for all within the discipline but also inpublished articles by a particular author,, evaluating the contribution o f ait is possible to construct an accurate researcher to the field by a criterionand objective picture of that author's that is blind to editorial bias.contribution to the body of knowledge onthe discipline in a given year. Such a REFERENCESpicture has, furthermore, a dimensionlacking in a mere listing of an author's 1. Nunamaker, J.F. Publications andCurriculum Vitae; it clearly indicates the journals in information systems Workingextent to which an author's ideas have Paper, University of Arizpna, (Octoberbeen used by fellow scholars. 1980).Acceptance of an article by a recognized 2. Subramanyan, K. Core journals injournal, particularly a prestigious one, computer science. IEEE Transactions onis, of course, a recognition of the Professional Communications, PC-19 No 2,quality of the research reported. (Dec. 1976), pp. 22-25.Evidence that the article has been readand used by other researchers is another 3. Hirst, G. and Talent, N. Computerform of recognition, made possible by an science journals: an interactive citationindex like Science Citation Index. Such analysis. IEEE Transactions onan index is helpful not only in tracing Professional Communications, PC-20 No 4,the influence of a given line of thought Dec. 1977), pp. 233-238.219COMMUNICATION OF MIS RESEARCH:AN ANALYSIS OF JOURNAL STRATIFICATIONSCOTT HAMILTONUniversity of MinnesotaBLAKE IVESState University of New York at BinghamptonABSTRACTThe stratification among journals constituting theformal communication system for MIS research is describedand analyzed on the basis of MIS experts' opinions,published MIS articles, and citation frequency.Implications of the research results are discussed forauthors seeking suitable publication outlets, for academicadministrators making promotion decisions, for editorswishing to establish coverage policy, and for librariansmaking journal acquisition decisions.INTRODUCTION 1. For MIS researchers, it is important toknow where to find published MISAs part of the formal communication research and which journals to publishsystem, journals play an important role·in in. Because of prestigethe exchange of scientific information. differentiation between journals, longHowever, the extent to which journals review times, and high rejection rates,communicate information and contribute to MIS researchers must select journalsa discipline is affected by journal for submitting manuscripts by astratification in terms of quality and deliberate and conscious process.prestige. Journal stratificationinfluences the degree to which articles 2. Academic administrators are concernedare noticed, read, used, and cited, and is about prestige differentiation betweendirectly observable in manuscript journals when evaluating researchsubmission decisions of individual efforts for tenure and promotionresearchers and tenure/promotion decisions decisions.of academic administrators.3. Journal editors and publishers need toIn the emerging discipline of MIS, evaluate their performance andcommunication of research findings has editorial policies for MIS research.been hampered by the poorly definedstratification among the emerging MIS 4. Chief librarians and acquisitionjournals and established journals in librarians need to set journalrelated disciplines. There has been a selection policies for the MIS field.lack of consensus on a major MIS journal,several established -journals have not been To examine journal stratification, thereceptive to MIS research, and journals research approach employed severalreceptive to MIS often lack prestige and different measures since "no one criterionreadership (Keen, 1980). The purpose of used in isolation can give a realistic.this study is to demonstrate that indication of the relative importance ofstratification exists among those journals journals" (Subramanyan, 1975). Aconstituting the communication system for journal's contributions to the MISMIS research and to characterize the discipline provides one means to assessnature of that stratification. journal quality (Hamelman and Mazze,1974), and also indicates the importanceJournal stratification is important to of the journal in communicating MISindividual researchers, academic research. The research approach toadministrators, journal editors and measure journal contributions involvedpublishers, and librarians. three steps:220

PUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF THE SCIENCE CITATION INDEX

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PUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF THE SCIENCE CITATION INDEX

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