Evaluation of Domestic and International Journals in the Field of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Using h-Index
10.4326/jjcvs.38.11
- VernacularTitle:国内外胸部心臓血管外科系学術雑誌の h-index を用いた評価
- Author:
Yasuko Tomizawa
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
h-index;
impact factor;
PubMed
- From:Japanese Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery
2009;38(1):11-16
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
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Abstract:
Domestic and international thoracic, cardiac and vascular surgery (TCVS) journals were evaluated using Impact Factor (IF) and h-index, since the information should be valuable when selecting a journal in this field to submit a manuscript. The h-index was introduced by Hirsch to show the quality and quantity of articles. Scientific databases such as PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were used in this study. For surgery, there were 452 journals in PubMed, 170 in WoS and 165 in the list of journal analytics of Scopus in July 2008. Two journals in surgery from Japan were listed in WoS. One of them was “Surgery Today (ST).” Four journals from Japan were listed in Scopus journal analytics, and ST had the highest h-index among the four. Citations of ST have increased in the last decade, although the numbers of published articles were similar for ST and Jpn. J. Thoracic. Surg. When “trend” is defined as the number of articles divided by number of citations, ST performed best among Japanese journals in the 2008 Scopus list. A strong correlation existed between IF and the h-index for TCVS journals. However, there are some limitations in the h-index, since it shows lifetime contribution. The order for IF and h-index was reversed occasionally because of the difference in the calculation methods. Eight TCVS-related journals were listed in WoS : J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. (JTCVS), Ann. Thorac. Surg. (ATS), J. Vasc. Surg. (JVS), Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg. (EJCTS), J. Cardiovasc. Surg. (JCVS), Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. (TCVS), J. Cardiac. Surg. (JCS), and Heart Surg. Forum (HSF). Three major journals in TCVS : JTCVS, ATS and JVS, had a high h-index greater than 117, compared to 59 for EJCTS. When the h-graphs were superimposed, the “h” values of JTCVS, ATS, and JVS were close to each other. When comparing the 4 minor journals in WoS : JCVS, TCVS, JCS and HSF, as well as ST, journal analytics showed that JCVS had the best trend among the five. It was concluded that the h-index is valuable for the evaluation and comparison of TCVS journals, since the index can be obtained easily using online databases, and the “trend” of a journal is helpful in making a choice when submitting a manuscript to minor TCVS journals.
