The Problem of Selecting a Reference Group for the Thematic Rating of Scientific Journals
Аннотация:
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) together with the Electronic Library eLibrary.ru has proposed an Academic rating of scientific journals from a limited collection, which includes about 700 journals. Using the example of a rating of journals compiled by the impact factor in the thematic section “Mathematics”, the methodological errors made in the selection of the reference group of journals are shown. It is concluded that the Academic rating has significant distortions associated with the thematic heterogeneity (multidisciplinary) of journals in reference groups formed on the basis of the existing classifier. The rating indicators are influenced by articles that are not related to the topic of the rating. We believe that an alternative technology for forming reference groups “from the bottom up” is a more reliable basis for thematic ratings. The bottom-up technology reveals the thematic proximity of journal articles based on the analysis of their bibliographic references, launching the clustering process. The thematic proximity of journals can be expressed in numerical form and further serve as the basis for the formation of reference groups for the thematic rating. A carefully constructed reference group is the key to the adequacy of the thematic rating of journals.
