Editorial: After Five Years

Abstract

Increasingly journals are using a variety of measures to benchmark the quality of their publications. Upon reflection one can source numerous statistics from reliable sources to find key indicators that showcase both the breadth and depth of relevance of a journal within a global academic and industry community of practice. We thought it especially important to present some key indicators in this editorial, which will illustrate both the impact the journal has had over the last five years, and the positive course it is on in the next five years. These figures are a celebration not only for the editorial board and review board but for the many individual researchers who have painstakingly undertaken their research and sought to publish in the journal, despite its relative infancy. May these indicators continue to attract more international contributors as we seek to build on the robust foundations laid in the first five years. In the next five years, we will focus on maintaining the academic rigor displayed to date, while making it even easier for authors to submit their manuscripts and track their papers through the review process online. Since its inception, the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (JTAER) has had a citation count that is comparable to the first four years reflected by other electronic commerce (EC) centric journals in the Scopus data base. To this end JTAER can claim that it is on a similar trajectory to the other electronic commerce journals that preceded it. JTAER was included in the Scopus data base in 2008. Table 1 shows the number of JTAER citations significantly rising particularly after the journal's inclusion in the Scopus data base. On average the journal publishes about 22 papers per annum. The partial count from the 2011 Scopus data base indicated in July that 32 citations had already been recorded for JTAER. Please note that the SNIP and SJR for 2010 were last updated in September 2010. In the Scopus data base JTAER's h-index is 8. This is one of several indicators that will continue to strengthen over the short-term. While the h-index is not often favorable to newly established journals, in this instance 8 is a good starting point from which to work on [1]. Authors per Country The global appeal of JTAER is demonstrated by the breadth of the authors' affiliations and countries. There have been two-hundred and fifty authors from thirty-two countries who have had their work published in JTAER, indicating that the journal has reached a global audience, and its relevance is sustained despite national administrative boundaries. The number of authors from each country can be found in Figure 1. The Proportion of authors from each continent can be found in Figure 2. JTAER's website has a new section labeled Statistics, where you will be able to find the following report options: * Downloads per year * Ranking of Articles by Downloads * Search per Author/Article * Scopus Citations * Google Scholar Citations The Downloads per year option provides statistics about the number of downloads from JTAER's website in a calendar year. Clicking on a particular year, allows one to obtain the number of downloads for each month of that selected year. The Ranking of Articles by Downloads option shows the published article ranked by the total number of downloads. Those articles with the greater number of downloads will be listed first. There is also the additional option of specifying a particular date period to obtain a ranking. The Search per Author/Article option helps you to initiate a search for a published article title or an author surname. …