کتابداری و اطلاعرسانی (Mar 2016)
Composition of Journals’ Editorial Board Members as an indicator of the Interdisciplinarity: The Case of Iranian Journals in Social Sciences and Humanities.
Abstract
Purpose: The current research investigates the composition and characteristics of editorial board members of journals in humanities and social sciences accredited by the Ministry of Science, Research & Technology of Iran. Methodology: This study is an applied research conducted using scientometric indicators. A total of 518 journals in 18 different disciplines in Social Sciences and Humanities which provide the information about their editorial board members constitute the population of the study. The information about characteristics of editorial board members was gathered from the journals’ website. Moreover, the Web of Science was used to search for direct citation network measures. Findings: Results revealed that 2573 unique researchers filled the 5188 editorial board positions (an average of 10 members per journal). The highest proportion of international editorial board members was seen in the Literature and Foreign Language journals (12.97%). Generally, 33 countries represented on the editorial board of Iranian journals in the Humanities. The data showed that the majority of board members affiliated with foreign institutions were from the United States, United Kingdom and France. Moreover, 157 domestic institutions as well as 148 foreign institutions were seen in editorial positions of journals, which the highest proportion belonged to the University of Tehran, Allameh Tabatabai University and the Islamic Azad University. Investigating the academic rank of editorial board members showed that professors filled the highest membership positions (45.91%), followed by associate professors (43.43%) and assistant professors (10.64%). Findings indicated that 58.8 of researchers served as editorial board member in only one journal. Moreover, the highest share of board members with different areas of expertise was seen in Library and Archival Science journals. In other words, 37.4% of editorial board members in Library and Archival Science journals came from other disciplines. Conclusion: Findings revealed no statistically significant association between scientific expertise of editorial board members and Interdisciplinarity of different areas in humanities and social sciences.
