Assessing journals in library and information studies based on altmetrical indicators

Abstract

Altmetrical indicators are characterized in brief; their advantages, disadvantages and applicability in assessing periodicals are examined. The authors attempt to define the significance of library journals based on the alternative metrics of views and loadings. Essential data are obtained from Russian Science Citation Index database. The selection of publications under examination is substantiated. The low-cited publications and those RSCI provide insufficient data on, were not considered. The comparison is made; the mostly cited, viewed and loaded journals are identified for the years 2013-2017. The key study tasks are to identify citation, view and loading level for each journal; to reveal correlation between loadings and citations and to evaluate its closeness. The main advantages of altmetrical indicators are: responsiveness, open access, wide coverage of sources. The reasons are discussed why the high-cited publications correspond to the limited number of loadings. This correspondence enables to suggest that the higher the number of loadings, the more significant it is. The authors suggest using number of loadings to reveal the most authoritative publications when developing library collections. They also suggest that the role of altmetrics will be increasing.