Editorial 30(3)

Abstract

In this editorial we take the opportunity provided by the release of the 2014 Google Scholar Journal Metrics to explain the various journal metrics, how they are calculated and how AJET rates against other Educational Technology journals.  Journal metrics broadly refer to the various measures of quality or impact of a journal, largely based on the number of articles published in the journal itself and citations in other journals to articles published in the journal. As well as being used to rank the journals themselves, metrics are often used as a proxy measure of the quality of articles in a particular journal, and thus individual researchers’ publication lists. The three most well known journal metric sources are the Thomson Routers Journal Citation Reports (previously known as the ISI Journal Citation Reports), Google Scholar Metrics, and Scopus Journal Analyser. Each of these sources includes a number of metrics or indices that use specific algorithms drawing on data within their own databases of journals, articles and citations. This editorial explains the key metrics used by these sources.