Comparative evaluation of information flow from national and international journals: an empirical study in a small country

Abstract

Based on interrelationships of scientific journals a novel design for the construction of information transfer maps is proposed. The maps support comparative analysis of the flow of scientific information, provided that a defined group of authors publishing in a given subject field, in a number of journals (domestic and foreign), over a significant penod of time, is taken as the data source. This paper reports the findings of an empirical investigation which was conducted in order to assess the impact of publishing performance in bi ology in a small country (Croatia/Yugoslavia). By detailed examination of similarities and differences in information flow from articles published in national journals on the one hand, and from those published in foreign journals on the other, a full insight into the structure of journal citedness is obtained. Of particular interest is the structure of citedness of non-SCI journals.