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Preparing for New Degree Plans: Finding the Essential Journal Titles in an Interdisciplinary World

Learn how to identify the key journal titles needed for new interdisciplinary degree programs. This presentation covers strategies for evaluating existing collections, comparing with other universities, and utilizing various resources to meet faculty and student needs.

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Preparing for New Degree Plans: Finding the Essential Journal Titles in an Interdisciplinary World

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  1. Preparing for New Degree Plans: Finding the Essential Journal Titles in an Interdisciplinary World Ellen Safley, Ph.D. Director of Libraries, UT Dallas NASIG June 2011

  2. Presentation Overview • Growth in Degrees • Interdisciplinary Approach to Instruction • Analysis of Journals for New Degree • What Happens After the Degree is Approved • Summary

  3. University of Texas at Dallas One of 9 Academic UT components • 3rd smallest with 17,000+ students • 13,300 FTE • Founded 1969 from a research institute created by the founders of Texas Instruments • 3rd or 4th largest research budgets in public Texas universities • 40% in graduate school

  4. +83% in 10 years +131% in 10 years

  5. Growth • New President—new focus • Reworking of Curriculum—renaming of Schools and Programs • Interdisciplinary approach

  6. Interdisciplinary Approach • Not traditional- • Not a degree in History • Historical studies • Many combinations of disciplines • Art and Technology • Aesthetic Studies

  7. Interdisciplinary Approach • Many new degrees • Emerging media • Actuarial studies • Constitutional law studies • Supply chain management • Bioinformatics and Computational Biology • Materials Engineering • Geospatial Information Sciences

  8. Interdisciplinary Approach • Reworking the curriculum • School of Social Sciences • now Economic Political and Policy Sciences • School of Human Development • now Behavioral and Brain Sciences • School of General Studies • now School of Interdisciplinary Studies

  9. Interdisciplinary Approach • Previously Political Economy • now Political Science • now Economics • now Public Affairs

  10. AnalysisGetting a New Degree Approved for a Public University(in Texas)

  11. Through SEVERAL University Governance committees Requires a proposal (courses, job market, etc.) Runs through the Provost’s Office Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board UT System level— Board of Regents

  12. Library Component of theDegree Plan Proposal • Requires a statement from the library director • Different for undergraduate/master’s degrees vs. doctoral degree • Evaluates the collection and costs of acquisitions within the first several years of the new degree

  13. Library Component • Evaluate the monographic collections • Evaluate the serial collections • Evaluate other collections as appropriate

  14. Want to Know for Journals • Do we subscribe to the CORE materials in the discipline? • How do we compare to other universities who already have the degree? • Titles in specific subjects vs. number of journals in a field

  15. Core vs. What We Need • What percentage do we own/have access to of the core? • What percentage of the major publications is enough to start a graduate degree? • Can you estimate the demand before you have the demand?

  16. Comparing Universities • Size of university • Depth of their collections • Same degree? • vs. research interests of the faculty • Are all Materials Science programs the same with respect to journal collections?

  17. Resources to Consider • Faculty needs—where they publish vs. what they read • Interlibrary Loan requests • SFX statistics—what was asked for that we do not own electronically? • Journal Citation Reports

  18. Resources to Consider • OCLC Collection Analysis Tool • Reference works (if available) • Periodical Index Lists • Internet Journal Resources • Ulrich’s/Serials Directory

  19. Faculty Publications • Review a list of journal articles produced by current faculty members • Have a RSS feed running in a LibGuide which provides a starting point • Arts and Humanities are more difficult than technical disciplines • SCOPUS

  20. Faculty Publications • Where are your faculty publishing? • If we own the journals, GREAT • If not….Strategy for new journals • ILL requests • Editorial board • Availability of electronic format • If we have good use for embargoed title? • Is it a CORE journal (JCR) • What are they reading?

  21. Interlibrary Loan Requests • Use ILLiad • Statistical component can be queried to determine requests by journal title • And by date and requestor

  22. SFX Statistical Dataset • Use SFX as a link resolver • Can store usage statistics over a period of time • Look at journal titles not available electronically • …..Might be unavailable or Might be in print or Not linked correctly in SFX

  23. SFX • Have an A-Z Periodicals List that links to the catalog record for ALL journals.

  24. SFX • Used MarcIt service and it takes the customer to the online resource. • Statistics are captured in SFX • From a database, SFX records the title if not owned electronically

  25. Journal Citation Reports • For Social Sciences and Sciences ONLY • Often considered CORE in the literature • Methodology is sometimes controversial • Size of journal, discipline, title changes can make a difference

  26. Journal Citation Reports • Most frequently cited journals in a field • Highest impact journals in a field • Largest journals in a field • Can look by title, by category, or various categories

  27. Impact Factor • Measures the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year. • Helps you evaluate a journal’s relative importance, especially when you compare it to others in the same field. • JCR validity varies by discipline and size of journal.

  28. Can rank data by impact factor (a year or 5 years) • Rankings change over time • Journal titles added or deleted

  29. JCR • Content list is only as good as the source journals tracked—not comprehensive • Largely English journals • Review of titles in a subject category is critical and should be based on demand/scope

  30. OCLC Collection Analysis • Do you catalog your ejournals into OCLC? • Do you maintain your print holdings in OCLC? • Can compare another university in subject areas, but you need permission and TIME.

  31. Reference Works • Generally created to give faculty or other authors information about where to publish • Cabell’s directories (social sciences, business, education, computer science, etc.) • Subject specific • Writer’s guide to nursing periodicals

  32. Indexes • Subject databases and indexes generally have a list of journal titles that are indexed completely or selectively • Conducting searches in subject specific databases can lead to a strong list of journal titles

  33. America: History and Life

  34. For this example-- • Priority vs. selective • Years indexed • Academic Journal vs. magazine vs. book • Peer reviewed

  35. Internet Journal Lists • Google top journals (subject) • Get specific titles • Links to blogs • Links to articles ranking journals • Websites created by specific universities • Wikipedia

  36. Top Journals

  37. Looks good, but a bit dated

  38. Ulrich’s • Online version has limits to the database • Restrict by subject, online format, scholarly/refereed, JCR, etc. • And language..

  39. Serials Directory • Similar to Ulrich’s • Limits but not ranked • Might be a good place for many to start your discovery

  40. Create the Journals List • See what is owned/available • Print, electronic, embargoed • Determine what we would add over the first 3 years of the program • Ranked for core/demand • Write the analysis. Do the cost estimate.

  41. The Library used a number of resources to analyze the collection in actuarial sciences including Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory and the Journal Citation Reports from ISI. Unfortunately the Journal Citation Reports does not include a category on actuarial science. In fact, few scholarly titles covering actuarial science exist. The Library identified 7 scholarly journals in actuarial science. Two of the titles were already owned, three of the titles were open access and freely available on the Internet, and one title had ceased in 2007. The remaining title was ordered on subscription. The Library ran searches on the Journal Citation Reports database and identified 4 categories of journals are relevant to the doctoral program in actuarial science: Applied Mathematics, Statistics and Probability, Interdisciplinary Applications in Mathematics, and Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences. In each category, McDermott Library subscribes to over 84% of the most important journals with respect to impact factor as devised by the Institute of Scientific Information. Only one journal was considered important to these fields that was not already owned and the Library will add a subscription during 2008 at a cost of approximately $3,000.

  42. Other Factors • Current faculty • Authored the final proposal report • Want the library costs to be minimal • In my case, experts in the field are not always present • Not yet hired • Authors of the final report are sometimes experts, but not always • REPORT IS SENT FORWARD

  43. Then What? Wait Approval!

  44. Assessment

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