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Cited by 36scientometrics and bibliometrics researchPublishing and Scholarly CommunicationLibrary Science and Information

Scholarly Book Publishing: Its Information Sources for Evaluation in the Social Sciences and Humanities

Giménez-Toledo, Elea, Mañana-Rodríguez, Jorge, Sivertsen, Gunnar·2017·Research Evaluation
DOI 10.1093/reseval/rvx007
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Abstract

In the past decade, a number of initiatives have been taken to provide new sources of information on scholarly book publishing. Thomson Reuters (now Clarivate Analytics) has supplemented the Web of Science with a Book Citation Index (BCI), while Elsevier has extended Scopus to include books from a selection of scholarly publishers. More complete metadata on scholarly book publishing can be derived at the national level from non-commercial databases such as Current Research Information System in Norway and the VIRTA (Higher Education Achievement Register, Finland) publication information service, including the Finnish Publication Forum (JUFO) lists (Finland). The Spanish Scholarly Publishers Indicators provides survey-based information on the prestige, specialization profiles from metadata, and manuscript selection processes of national and international publishers that are particularly relevant for the social sciences and humanities (SSH). In the present work, the five information sources mentioned above are compared in a quantitative analysis identifying overlaps and uniqueness as well as differences in the degrees and profiles of coverage. In a second-stage analysis, the geographical origin of the university presses (UPs) is given a particular focus. We find that selection criteria strongly differ, ranging from a set of a priori criteria combined with expert-panel review in the case of commercial databases to in principle comprehensive coverage within a definition in the Nordic countries and an open survey methodology combined with metadata from the book industry database and questionnaires to publishers in Spain. Larger sets of distinct book publishers are found in the noncommercial databases, and greater geographical diversity is observable among the UPs in these information systems. While a more locally oriented set of publishers which are relevant to researchers in the SSH is present in non-commercial databases, the commercial databases seem to focus on highly selective procedures by which the coverage concentrates on prestigious international publishers, mainly based in the USA or UK and serving the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine.

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Crossref · 10.1093/reseval/rvx007

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  • The content of BkCI is from a number of publishers exceeding the book publisher list in Scopus two times, but judging by numbers of indexed items, Scopus provides better coverage of academic books compared to BkCI.

    “Meanwhile, another study has explored the distribution of publishers providing content to WoS and Scopus, and it has shown that the content of BkCI is from a number of publishers, exceeding the book publisher list in Scopus two times [82], but, judging by the numbers of indexed items, Scopus provides better coverage of academic books when compared to BkCI [90].”

    From Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World (2021) · cites this paper as [82]

  • In both WoS and Scopus, the main criteria for source inclusion are the same: the source must be peer-reviewed, published in a timely manner, comply with editorial standards, and meet certain citation thresholds indicating impact.

    “However, the main criteria in both DBs are the same: the source must be peer-reviewed, published in a timely manner, comply with editorial standards and certain citation thresholds indicating its impact.”

    From Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World (2021) · cites this paper as [82]

  • Both WoS and Scopus require abstracts and titles to be written in English and state the importance of content's international relevance with references listed in Roman script.

    “Additionally, the linguistic criterion exists, requiring abstracts and titles to be written in English language, and the importance of content's international relevance with references being listed in Roman script is clearly stated [12,82].”

    From Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World (2021) · cites this paper as [82]

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Authors
Giménez-Toledo, E., Mañana-Rodríguez, J., & Sivertsen, G.
Affiliations
  • Philosophy Institute, Spanish National Research Council, C/Albasanz, 26-28, Madrid 28037, Spain
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
  • Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NO)
ORCID
Venue
Research Evaluation
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2017-04-01
Volume
26
Issue
2
Pages
91-101
ISSN
  • 0958-2029 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-5449
DOI
10.1093/reseval/rvx007
OpenAlex
W2607367094
Cited by
36
References
34
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1
FWCI
4.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Research Evaluation (publishedVersion)
  • DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Research Project (CSO2015-63693-P)
  • COST Action (CA15137)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Publishing and Scholarly Communication
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Library Science and Information
Keywords
scholarly book publishing, Web of Science, Scopus, research information systems, university presses, coverage analysis, humanities and social sciences, book metadata

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