Measuring a journal's input rhythm based on its publication-reference matrix

Abstract

The difference among journal reference characteristics in various fields causes a field-based difference in their citation counts. For the purpose of improving indicators used in cross-field evaluations it is necessary to continue explorations corresponding to the characteristics of journal references. Such an exploration would offer new clues for solving the problem of cross-field journal evaluation. During the past years studies of the rhythm of science have obtained some achievements: constructing various types of publication-citation matrices (in short: p-c matrices), creating a series of rhythm indicators, studying the fundamental mathematical properties of rhythm sequences and exploring some journals' rhythm sequences. Rhythm indicators can be applied to many studies, if the system is a source-item system with two time dimensions, ensuring the construction of a p-c-like matrix, then such a study is theoretically feasible. In this article we create a journal's publication-reference matrix (p-r matrix). Based on the p-r matrix the rR' indicator is defined, which is used to measure the so-called input rhythm of a journal. As two case studies, the input rhythms of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and of the Journal of Documentation are presented and analyzed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.