Journal packing density across subject disciplines at the global level: a study

Abstract

Purpose The study aims to assess the journal packing density (JPD) of the research journals published across different subject discipline at the global level. The concept of JPD is aimed to compute the average number of research articles published per volume or per issue of a research journal in any given subject discipline. The study also discusses about the leading research journals publishing countries and continents across the world and their average JPD. An attempt has also been made to identify the leading research counties having maximum JPD in any given subject discipline. Design/methodology/approach The study covers 27 major research subject disciplines widely popular all across the globe. To undertake the present study, data were retrieved from SCImago Journal and Country Ranking. Findings In all, 36,081 research journals were indexed by Scopus across 27 major subject disciplines at the global level till 2015. During the period 2013-2015, 11,023,122 research articles were published in 36,081 research journals across 27 major subject disciplines at the global level at an average of 101.84 research articles per journal per volume. This means the average JPD of the research journals at the global level is 101.84 research articles per journal per volume. Chemistry, physics and astronomy and multidisciplinary journals are the three leading subject disciplines to have the maximum JPD, namely, 266.66, 253.92 and 242.53 research articles per journal per volume. JPD of research journals published in the sciences is higher than the JPD of research journals published in the social sciences and humanities. Business, management and accounting, social sciences and arts and humanities are three subject disciplines having lowest JPD, namely, 44.26, 35.68 and 32.66 research articles per journal per volume, respectively. China, Ireland and The Netherlands recorded the highest average JPD in the research journals published from these counties, namely, 213.39, 178.44 and 135.31 research articles per journal per volume, respectively. Research limitations/implications Countries from where a lesser number of research journals are indexed by the popular indexes, such as Scopus, Web of Science, etc., face greater pressure of publishing. To ooze out this pressure, there is need to index more and more research journals from these countries and that can be done only by improving and maintaining the research standard over a period. Originality/value The study is original and the first of its kind undertaken at the global level across all the major subject disciplines.

Journal Packing Density across Subject Disciplines among BRICS Countries : A Study

“…It is quite understandable that research journals indexed by popular indexes receive lots of manuscripts all across the world, which increases the pressure of publishing on these journals and also inflates their packing density by accommodating more and more research articles. The average JPD of the research journals published across BRICS countries is 132.77 research article per journal per volume, while as, the average JPD at the global level is 101.84 research article per journal per volume 5 . The average JPD of Brazil is 72.40 research article per journal per volume, Russia 99.34 research article, India 97.25 research article, China 213.39 research article and the South Africa has the lowest JPD of 39.87 research article per journal per volume.…”

“…Indexing of research journals by good indexes like Web of Science, Scopus, etc has itself become one of the quality parameters, whereby researchers tend to publish their research results in such journals which are indexed by good indexes 5 . Indexing helps a research journal to expand its visibility among the global scientific community, which itself results in journal to gain popularity among the scientific community.…”

“…The research output published in the research journals from a particular country by no means can be considered as the scientific output of that particular country alone. Researchers all across the world publish their research results in different research journals 5 , irrespective of the country the research journals are published from.…”

“…Since most of the research journals complete one volume in one calendar year 5 , as such, it is presumed that all the journals under study complete one volume in one calendar year. Accordingly the average journal packing density (JPD) has been computed for each journal on annual basis viz., JPD per journal per volume.…”

“…and to measure this scientific output, research journals are the only medium to undertake such studies. Accordingly, the concept of JPD is associated with the research output, whereby a researcher computes the average number of research articles published in each volume of a research journal 5 . The JPD can be calculated against any subject discipline, country, region, institution, etc.…”