Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS) journal subject categorisation and comparison based on editorship information

• Published in: Journal of informetrics Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 101069
• Main Authors: Xie, Yundong, Wu, Qiang, Zhang, Peng, Li, Xingchen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2020
• Subjects: Editorship; Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS); Journal subject categorisation; Library and Information Science (LIS); Management Information Systems (MIS); Subject-related information; Journal subject categorisation; Editorship; Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS); Library and Information Science (LIS); Subject-related information; Management Information Systems (MIS)
• ISSN: 1751-1577; 1875-5879
• DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2020.101069

•Our method of journal subject categorisation embraces both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.•We utilise the subject-related information of 232 editors to classify 77 IS-LS journals into five categories.•The subject-related information covers research interests, experience, professional identity, and affiliated departments.•We conclude the descriptive differences in editorship characteristics for the subfields’ journals. Journal subject categorisation is not only a significant foundation for evaluating journal impact and ranking journals but also has become an increasingly important research focus in academia. As the gatekeepers of scholarly journals, editors play a critical role in directing their journal’s subject orientation. In this study, the category of Information Science and Library Science (IS-LS) is reclassified according to editorship information covering research interests, research experience, professional identity, and affiliated departments. Unlike earlier studies using interlocking editorship data, this study utilises the subject-related information of 232 editors to classify 77 IS-LS journals into five categories: Management Information Systems (MIS, 22 journals), Information Science (IS, 14 journals), Library Science (LS, 28 journals), Scientometrics (SM, 3 journals), and “Others” (10 journals). The study concludes that there are descriptive differences in editorship characteristics for the subfields’ journals, such as a size advantage in the editorial team of the majority of MIS journals compared to LIS journals (our LIS category consists of IS, LS, and SM journals). Our technique of journal subject categorisation is novel, making our research meaningful and helpful for editorial team governance of journals, including, in selecting editors with a variety of research focus backgrounds.