Does Success Breed Success? A Study on the Correlation between Impact Factor and Quantity in Chinese Academic Journals

Chen, Kun; Ren, Xiantong; Yang, Guoliang; Abudouguli, Ailifeire

Does Success Breed Success? A Study on the Correlation between Impact Factor and Quantity in Chinese Academic Journals

Journal of Data and Information Science

Volume 6 (2021): Issue 4 (November 2021)

By:

Kun Chen, Xiantong Ren, Guoliang Yang and Ailifeire Abudouguli

Open Access

|Aug 2021

Figures & Tables

Plot of all the Geosciences data from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers. Solid line shows y = x.

Plot of all the Geosciences data from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers. The solid line shows y = x.

AIF differences before and after removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	−0.039	−0.038	−0.035	−0.027	−0.022	−0.013	−0.016	−0.008	−0.003	0.013	0.015
Materials Science	0.025	0.026	0.021	0.024	0.019	0.015	0.012	0.018	0.017	0.013	0.016
Agricultural Sciences	−0.023	−0.018	−0.015	−0.013	−0.017	−0.014	−0.002	−0.009	0.000	−0.003	0.003
Engineering	0.008	0.008	0.007	0.009	0.010	0.010	0.011	0.015	0.020	0.022	0.027
Geosciences	−0.030	−0.032	−0.038	−0.032	−0.061	−0.031	−0.025	−0.025	−0.008	−0.012	−0.016
Plant & Animal Science	−0.014	−0.013	−0.013	−0.013	−0.024	−0.015	−0.015	−0.015	−0.005	−0.014	−0.014
Social Sciences, general	−0.016	−0.016	−0.014	−0.009	−0.012	−0.008	−0.012	−0.016	−0.016	−0.023	−0.030
Economics & Business	−0.043	−0.060	−0.069	−0.065	−0.075	−0.075	−0.065	−0.076	−0.099	−0.101	−0.158
Economics	−0.074	−0.072	−0.074	−0.069	−0.075	−0.079	−0.083	−0.081	−0.099	−0.099	−0.152
Education & Educational Research	−0.003	−0.003	−0.002	0.002	−0.003	−0.004	−0.004	−0.002	−0.013	−0.034	−0.019

List of SSCI disciplines and their corresponding Chinese journal disciplines_

SSCI disciplines	Chinese journal disciplines
Economics	Business Economics
	National Economics, Management Economics, Quantitative Economics
	Economics, general
	Finance, Insurance
	Ecological Agriculture Economics

Education & Educational Research	Adult Education, Vocational and Technical Education
	Higher Education
	Comprehensive Education
	Preschool Education, General Education

Average number of papers per journal from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	367.656	392.357	416.643	461.531	476.490	439.389	398.555	459.832	399.448	437.170	411.149
Materials Science	144.317	149.835	153.101	157.871	159.705	162.849	166.496	169.489	162.460	171.921	174.942
Agricultural Sciences	254.412	323.941	359.098	398.013	419.503	427.941	429.412	419.366	388.961	422.078	426.399
Engineering	190.512	210.762	216.921	223.752	228.185	225.115	231.318	232.724	232.576	244.702	239.006
Geosciences	135.534	138.368	143.851	150.816	152.948	151.885	158.362	161.626	159.747	162.460	151.529
Plant & Animal Science	162.230	183.061	190.612	202.194	212.182	212.885	212.370	222.018	201.388	216.079	206.388
Social Sciences, general	199.351	208.175	211.918	210.832	218.975	218.066	210.273	204.483	189.975	196.353	181.587
Economics & Business	285.358	290.512	291.080	295.049	297.451	283.938	285.086	268.222	269.148	276.148	275.198
Economics	283.548	285.183	281.913	285.889	280.413	270.881	271.762	257.817	241.000	241.222	242.008
Education & Educational Research	247.652	272.624	281.562	276.590	284.708	281.197	253.028	247.669	233.815	232.601	213.410

The of disciplines from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	0.040	0.032	0.029	0.029	0.010	0.020	0.023	0.036	0.038	0.045	0.044
Materials Science	0.065	0.041	0.046	0.038	0.043	0.042	0.009	0.041	0.055	0.053	0.068
Agricultural Sciences	0.034	0.054	0.066	0.083	0.065	0.079	0.083	0.078	0.089	0.098	0.109
Engineering	0.025	0.029	0.032	0.046	0.033	0.039	0.029	0.048	0.066	0.063	0.082
Geosciences	0.062	0.050	0.079	0.089	0.091	0.090	0.103	0.106	0.110	0.103	0.127
Plant & Animal Science	0.006	−0.004	−0.018	−0.014	−0.024	−0.017	0.017	0.025	0.059	0.033	0.065
Social Sciences, general	0.000	0.014	0.017	0.039	0.032	0.040	0.043	0.028	0.028	0.013	0.021
Economics & Business	−0.080	−0.098	−0.093	−0.068	−0.071	−0.069	−0.079	−0.075	−0.056	−0.075	−0.046
Economics	−0.030	−0.098	−0.097	−0.072	−0.070	−0.072	−0.086	−0.081	−0.063	−0.089	−0.064
Education & Educational Research	0.018	0.027	0.021	0.019	0.012	−0.013	0.013	0.006	−0.004	−0.025	−0.021

Average number of papers per journal from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	235.259	245.070	252.830	285.065	285.163	262.427	247.966	278.796	246.247	273.496	258.094
Materials Science	120.525	125.925	127.325	130.675	130.108	129.075	129.475	127.517	124.800	131.075	125.525
Agricultural Sciences	166.309	180.057	188.683	201.496	207.065	206.268	207.683	216.740	204.065	217.634	212.634
Engineering	150.943	158.423	161.470	165.301	168.070	167.677	170.829	170.702	164.181	171.956	163.218
Geosciences	97.507	101.433	102.580	105.293	108.920	106.993	109.860	112.033	113.820	114.753	110.987
Plant & Animal Science	140.697	151.179	156.952	159.924	161.697	160.179	155.510	156.917	146.186	152.931	146.248
Social Sciences, general	147.589	155.368	156.642	156.730	160.389	160.570	155.623	151.912	140.931	146.678	134.737
Economics & Business	189.574	198.713	196.868	196.853	194.897	191.794	188.544	180.846	165.515	170.507	156.338
Economics	195.150	202.364	199.411	196.776	195.019	192.449	190.664	181.140	162.916	167.579	152.523
Education & Educational Research	160.138	168.524	171.117	170.821	172.138	169.869	162.269	160.641	149.607	152.559	143.414

AIFs of journals from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	0.576	0.589	0.588	0.573	0.620	0.580	0.685	0.793	0.907	0.966	1.100
Materials Science	0.362	0.369	0.371	0.349	0.418	0.373	0.383	0.394	0.456	0.451	0.483
Agricultural Sciences	0.560	0.607	0.601	0.608	0.727	0.645	0.664	0.668	0.729	0.717	0.792
Engineering	0.309	0.350	0.351	0.347	0.429	0.388	0.420	0.455	0.526	0.535	0.578
Geosciences	0.833	0.937	0.907	0.863	1.060	0.777	0.828	0.878	0.981	1.008	1.068
Plant & Animal Science	0.468	0.501	0.508	0.515	0.618	0.522	0.546	0.545	0.599	0.598	0.658
Social Sciences, general	0.491	0.555	0.547	0.517	0.532	0.504	0.594	0.628	0.770	0.809	1.010
Economics & Business	0.841	0.877	0.889	0.877	0.924	0.968	1.044	1.056	1.240	1.271	1.759
Economics	0.792	0.838	0.859	0.835	0.860	0.917	0.991	0.978	1.152	1.155	1.640
Education & Educational Research	0.306	0.394	0.415	0.407	0.457	0.442	0.506	0.533	0.658	0.792	0.898

List of ESI disciplines and their corresponding Chinese journal disciplines_

ESI disciplines	Chinese journal disciplines
Agricultural Sciences	Agricultural Engineering
	Agricultural Science, general
	Agronomy
	Food Science and Technology
	Soil Science

Economics & Business	Business Economics
	National Economics, Management Economics, Quantitative Economics
	Economics, general
	Ecological Agriculture Economics
	Management
	Finance, Insurance
	Accounting, Auditing

Plant & Animal Science	Animal Husbandry, Veterinary Science
	Entomology, Zoology
	Forestry
	Fisheries
	Horticulture
	Plant Protection
	Botany
	Prairie

Geosciences	Atmospheric Science
	Geography
	Earth Science, general
	Geophysics
	Geology
	Marine science, Hydrology
	Mine Engineering and Technology
	Geomatics

Materials Science	Materials Science, general
	Metallic Material
	Metallurgical Engineering and Technology
	Textile Science and Technology
	Polymer Engineering

Engineering	Building Science and Technology
	Energy Science, general
	Instrumentation Technology
	Electrical Engineering
	Electronic Technology
	Engineering and technology science
	Mechanical Engineering Design
	Machinery Manufacturing Process and Equipment
	Oil and Gas Engineering
	Aerospace Science and Technology
	Civil Engineering
	Weaponry Science and Technology
	Safety Science and Technology
	Power Engineering
	Applied Chemical Engineering
	Road Transport
	Transport Engineering
	Water Conservancy Project
	Waterway Transportation
	Rail Transport
	Communication Technology
	Biological Engineering
	Chemical Engineering, general
	Fine Chemical Engineering

Social Sciences, general	Social Science, general
	Sociology, general
	History
	Departmental law, Criminal investigation, Forensic science
	Law synthesis
	Ethnology and Culturology
	Religious Studies
	Library Science, Philology
	Information Science
	Foreign Linguistics
	Linguistic, general
	Adult Education, Vocational and Technical Education
	Higher Education
	Comprehensive Education
	Preschool Education, General Education
	Archives, Museum Studies
	International Politics, Diplomacy
	Administration
	Archaeology
	Marxism
	Demography, Labour Science
	Foreign Literature
	Journalism and Communication Studies
	Art
	Philosophy
	Political Science, general
	Chinese Literature
	Military science

Clinical Medicine	Health Medicine
	Paediatrics
	Otorhinolaryngology
	Obstetrics and Gynaecology
	Orthopaedic Surgery
	Nuclear Medicine, Medical Imaging
	Respiratory Disease, Tuberculosis
	Nursing
	Basic Medicine
	Military Medicine
	Stomatology
	Clinical Medicine, general
	Clinical Diagnostics
	Epidemiology, Environmental Medicine
	Urology
	Endocrinology and Metabolism, Rheumatology
	Internal Medicine, general
	Dermatology
	General Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery
	Burn Surgery, Plastic Surgery
	Sports Science
	Surgery, general
	Health Management, Health Education
	Digestive Disease
	Cardiology
	Sex Medicine
	Haematology, Nephrology
	Ophthalmology
	Medical, general
	Eugenics, Family Planning
	Preventive Medicine and Public Health
	Acupuncture
	Integrative Medicine
	Chinese Medicine
	Oncology
	Biomedical Engineering

Number of journals before and after removing outliers_

	Number of journals (before removing outliers)	Number of journals (after removing outliers)
Clinical Medicine	524	418
Materials Science	139	120
Agricultural Sciences	153	123
Engineering	793	746
Geosciences	174	150
Plant & Animal Science	165	145
Social Sciences, general	487	419
Economics & Business	162	136
Economics	126	107
Education & Educational Research	178	145

AIFs of journals from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	0.537	0.551	0.553	0.546	0.598	0.567	0.669	0.785	0.904	0.979	1.115
Materials Science	0.387	0.395	0.392	0.373	0.437	0.388	0.395	0.412	0.473	0.464	0.499
Agricultural Sciences	0.537	0.589	0.586	0.595	0.710	0.631	0.662	0.659	0.729	0.714	0.795
Engineering	0.317	0.358	0.358	0.356	0.439	0.398	0.431	0.470	0.546	0.557	0.605
Geosciences	0.803	0.905	0.869	0.831	0.999	0.746	0.803	0.853	0.973	0.996	1.052
Plant & Animal Science	0.454	0.488	0.495	0.502	0.594	0.507	0.531	0.530	0.594	0.584	0.644
Social Sciences, general	0.475	0.539	0.533	0.508	0.520	0.496	0.582	0.612	0.754	0.786	0.980
Economics & Business	0.798	0.817	0.820	0.812	0.849	0.893	0.979	0.980	1.141	1.170	1.601
Economics	0.718	0.766	0.785	0.766	0.785	0.838	0.908	0.897	1.053	1.056	1.488
Education & Educational Research	0.303	0.391	0.413	0.409	0.454	0.438	0.502	0.531	0.645	0.758	0.879

The of disciplines from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Clinical Medicine	−0.115	−0.121	−0.116	−0.074	−0.081	−0.012	−0.019	0.036	0.032	0.049	0.043
Materials Science	0.142	0.122	0.127	0.135	0.121	0.113	0.078	0.141	0.148	0.126	0.084
Agricultural Sciences	−0.027	0.037	−0.026	0.039	−0.038	0.057	−0.038	−0.073	−0.067	−0.064	−0.049
Engineering	0.030	0.078	0.074	0.078	0.051	0.056	0.039	0.066	0.109	0.114	0.112
Geosciences	−0.111	−0.091	−0.083	−0.064	−0.080	−0.056	−0.031	−0.018	−0.012	−0.012	0.033
Plant & Animal Science	−0.014	−0.028	−0.035	−0.042	−0.064	−0.065	−0.076	−0.058	0.034	0.013	0.020
Social Sciences, general	−0.058	−0.037	−0.032	−0.010	−0.011	−0.011	−0.012	−0.017	−0.028	−0.037	−0.050
Economics & Business	−0.172	−0.182	−0.185	−0.159	−0.167	−0.155	−0.142	−0.148	−0.209	−0.207	−0.249
Economics	−0.191	−0.202	−0.210	−0.194	−0.201	−0.196	−0.201	−0.202	−0.240	−0.233	−0.278
Education & Educational Research	0.021	−0.013	−0.018	−0.023	−0.032	−0.031	0.018	0.021	0.015	−0.025	−0.025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0031 | Journal eISSN: 2543-683X | Journal ISSN: 2096-157X

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Language: English

Page range: 90 - 110

Submitted on: Nov 25, 2020

Accepted on: Jul 23, 2021

Published on: Aug 18, 2021

Published by: Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Science Library

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 times per year

Keywords:

Impact factor (IF),

Chinese academic journals,

Correlation analysis,

the Number of journal papers

Related subjects:

Computer sciences,

Information technology,

Project management,

Databases and data mining

© 2021 Kun Chen, Xiantong Ren, Guoliang Yang, Ailifeire Abudouguli, published by Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Science Library
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

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Does Success Breed Success? A Study on the Correlation between Impact Factor and Quantity in Chinese Academic Journals

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Figure 2

AIF differences before and after removing outliers_

List of SSCI disciplines and their corresponding Chinese journal disciplines_

Average number of papers per journal from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

The of disciplines from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

Average number of papers per journal from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

AIFs of journals from 2007 to 2017 after removing outliers_

List of ESI disciplines and their corresponding Chinese journal disciplines_

Number of journals before and after removing outliers_

AIFs of journals from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

The of disciplines from 2007 to 2017 before removing outliers_

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