Journal lists in social sciences and the spectrum of quality standards

Abstract

The social sciences involve multiple literatures, including journals with a more international and those with a more local orientation. Quality standards in research assessment have largely been borrowed from STEM fields and generally favour internationally oriented journals with high international visibility and scientific impact, to the detriment of other quality dimensions, such as relevance to local communities and researchers or openness of research.In journal lists, this complex spectrum of quality standards is simplified into a one-dimensional arrangement. We provide a typology to characterize journal lists and discuss the usage of journal lists in research assessment, arguing that their values and criteria deserve careful scrutiny and can be studied through systematic comparison.