On first quartile journals which are not of highest impact

Abstract

Here we study the relationship between journal quartile rankings of ISI impact factor (at the 2010) and journal classification in four impact classes, i.e., highest impact, medium highest impact, medium lowest impact, and lowest impact journals in subject category computer science artificial intelligence. To this aim, we use fuzzy maximum likelihood estimation clustering in order to identify groups of journals sharing similar characteristics in a multivariate indicator space. The seven variables used in this analysis are: (1) Scimago Journal Ranking (SJR); (2) H-Index (H); (3) ISI impact factor (IF); (4) 5-Year Impact Factor (5IF); (5) Immediacy Index (II); (6) Eigenfactor Score (ES); and (7) Article Influence Score (AIS). The fuzzy clustering allows impact classes to overlap, thereby accommodating for uncertainty related to the confusion about the impact class attribution for a journal and vagueness in impact classes definition. This paper demonstrates the complex relationship between quartiles of ISI impact factor and journal impact classes in the multivariate indicator space. And that several indicators should be used for a distinct analysis of structural changes at the score distribution of journals in a subject category. Here we propose it can be performed in a multivariate indicator space using a fuzzy classifier.