Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Canadian Journal of Soil Science

May 31, 2013

Prepared for:

Agricultural Institute of Canada

Prepared by:

Kelly Bogh, Content Development Manager

Canadian Science Publishing

613-998-6913

Contents

1. Background 3

2. The Soil Science journal universe 4

Related journals 4

Peer review 7

Rejection rate 7

Publication fees 8

Editorial board 9

3. Impact factor 10

Citations 12

Alternative metrics 13

4. Geography 14

5. Conclusions 19

Appendix A 20

Canadian Journal of Soil Science

1. Background

The number of peer-reviewed journals has been growing at a rate of about 3% per year for more than two centuries (paralleling growth in the number of researchers).[1] Journals need to be able to stand out from the crowd in order to attract the best authors.

Several surveys have been conducted to ascertain what factors authors consider when choosing a journal to submit to. Results from 4 surveys are shown below.

2002 and 2009, most important factors influencing an author’s choice of journal:[2],[3]

  1. speed of peer review process
  2. quality of peer review process (usefulness and quality of comments returned to the author)
  3. journal reputation
  4. impact factor
  5. production speed
  6. editor and editorial board (perceived as respected, and editor perceived to be managing the journal well)

2009, most important factors for authors when deciding where to submit:[4]

  1. fairness of the review process
  2. journal’s prestige
  3. scope of the journal
  4. speed of the review process
  5. quality of figure reproduction
  6. impact factor

2010, most important aspects of journal publication for authors:[5]

  1. timely review process (>90% rated this as important or very important)
  2. good reputation of journal
  3. global dissemination of article
  4. the right to circulate the article after publication
  5. high impact factor (>75% rated this as important or very important)

2012, top 5 factors for authors in deciding where to publish:[6]

  1. subject area / scope of journal
  2. impact factor
  3. it is my society’s journal
  4. international authorship/readership
  5. quality of published articles (editing, figure quality)

The one factor that is consistent among all the surveys is impact factor: authors will aim for the highest possible impact factor but will also try to match the “quality” of their paper to a journal with an appropriate impact factor. More senior and well-established researchers may have less “need” to publish in high-impact journals.

Other important factors are readership and scope. Authors tend to choose journals that regularly publish papers in the same subject area as the manuscript under consideration and that are well known and widely read within the research community, to help ensure their paper will reach its target audience.

Also important are the speed and quality of peer review and the composition of the editorial board. In addition to a quick decision, authors want assurance that their manuscript will receive unbiased consideration from appropriate experts.

Although authors often seek publication in journals with high impact factors, this is not the only consideration. Authors may choose to publish in journals with lower impact factors if the journal is particularly important to their community (for example, the journal is known to be one of the best sources of published research on a particular topic) or if it has a good reputation (for example, a well-respected editorial board or a reputation for being highly selective about the manuscripts it chooses to publish). Moreover, there is a growing movement within the scientific community to eliminate the use of journal-based metrics (such as the impact factor) in funding, appointment, and promotion considerations (see http://am.ascb.org/dora/). Therefore, it is important to focus not only on the impact factor but also on defining, understanding, and meeting the needs of the particular community the journal serves.

2. The Soil Science journal universe

In Journal Citation Reports, the Canadian Journal of Soil Science is included in the subject category “Soil Science”. In the 2011 edition of JCR there are 33 journals in this category.

Related journals

Table 1 lists the journals that are most closely related to CJSS by citing and cited relationships. These journals include Soil Science journals as well as journals in Environmental Sciences, Agronomy, and other categories. This provides a snapshot of the journal “ecosystem” that CJSS is a part of, and should be a reasonably accurate reflection of the journal’s scope.

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Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Table 1. Journals most related to CJSS by citing and cited relationships (Journal Citation Reports 2011).

Journal / Journal Subject Category / Impact factor 2011 / Citations to
CJSS* / Citations from CJSS** /
Soil Science / Environmental Sciences / Agronomy / Ecology / Water Resources / Plant Sciences / Chemistry, Analytical / Forestry /
CJSS / ü / 0.821 / 127 / 127
Soil Science Society of America Journal / ü / 1.979 / 58 / 123
Journal of Environmental Quality / ü / 2.324 / 13 / 144
Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems / ü / 1.792 / 19 / 11
Advances in Agronomy / ü / 5.204 / 16 / 6
Soil Science / ü / 1.144 / 14 / 15
Soil & Tillage Research / ü / 2.425 / 20 / 31
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation / ü / ü / ü / 1.265 / 4 / 23
Geoderma / ü / 2.318 / 25 / 65
Compost Science & Utilization / ü / ü / 0.639 / 1 / 2
Biology & Fertility of Soils / ü / 2.319 / 12 / 4
Soil Use and Management / ü / 1.608 / 3 / 14
European Journal of Soil Science / ü / 2.340 / 2 / 19
Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis / ü / ü / ü / ü / 0.506 / 8 / 10
Agronomy Journal / ü / 1.794 / 15 / 21
Canadian Journal of Plant Science / ü / ü / 0.613 / 10 / 9
Soil Biology & Biochemistry / ü / 3.504 / 9 / 40
Canadian Journal of Forest Research / ü / 1.685 / 2 / 20
J. Plant Nutrition and Soil Science / ü / ü / ü / 1.596 / 7 / 15
Vadose Zone Journal / ü / ü / ü / 1.647 / 2 / 25

* Number of times articles published in the journal in 2011 cited articles published in CJSS in 2002-2011.

** Number of times articles published in CJSS in 2011 cited articles published in the journal in 2002-2011.

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Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Peer review

CJSS peer review times were significantly reduced in 2011 compared with 2010. However, the average times in 2011 were still higher than the values reported by other journals.

Table 2.

Journal / Time from submission to first decision / Time from submission to final decision
CJSS (2010) / 97 / 82 / 109 days (accepted regular, rejected regular, and accepted special issue papers) / 29 / 14 / 37 weeks (accepted regular, rejected regular, and accepted special issue papers)
CJSS (2011) / 81 / 59 / 63 days (accepted regular, rejected regular, and accepted special issue papers) / 28 / 11 / 25 weeks (accepted regular, rejected regular, and accepted special issue papers)
2009 survey of STM journals[7] / Median: 38 days; mode: 60 days; range: 3 to 180 days / Median: 14 weeks; mode: 8 weeks; range: 3 to 100 weeks
SSSAJ / “Up to 3 months may be required for the initial review”
Plant & Soil / “Manuscripts will be reviewed with 2 months of submission”
Soil Biology & Biochemistry (2008-2012) / 47 to 57 days / 10.5 to 14.1 weeks

Possible ways to reduce peer review times:

·  CJSS took a significant step in 2010 when it reduced the time for peer review from 2 months to 6 weeks and the time for authors’ revisions from 3 months to 6 weeks

·  CJSS and many other journals struggle to find reviewers who will accept assignments; some journals provide incentives for reviewers (e.g., free colour figures in the journal, which can also provide an incentive to publish in the journal) or attempt to build a loyal base of reviewers by providing acknowledgement/recognition (e.g., an annual note of appreciation published in the journal; recognition of “star reviewers” on the journal website or at an annual meeting)

·  many journals reject unsuitable submissions without external peer review, to avoid burdening reviewers unnecessarily

Rejection rate

CJSS’s rejection rate was calculated as follows:

(# of rejected papers) / (# of rejected papers + # of accepted papers) × 100

Figure 1.

CJSS’s rejection rate has been gradually increasing (Figure 1); this has been attributed primarily to the growing number of submissions from outside Canada and the very high rejection rate for these papers. The overall rejection rate in 2009 was 47%; about 12% of STM journals surveyed in 2009 reported a rejection rate between 40% and 49% (Figure 2).[8]

Figure 2.

Publication fees

Publication fees for 14 Soil Science journals are shown in Table 3. Among these journals, CJSS and the Soil Science Society of America publications have page charges and a very low open access fee; all of the other journals have no page charges and a much higher open access fee.

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Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Table 3.

Journal / Page charges / Open access fee
CJSS / $30 for members, $90 for non-members / $750
Soil Science Society of America Journal / First 7 pages free; $100 for members and $200 for non-members after 7 pages / $800
Vadose Zone Journal / First 7 pages free; $100 for members and $200 for non-members after 7 pages / $800
Soil Biology & Biochemistry / No page charges / $3300
Plant & Soil / No page charges / $3000
Soil Tillage Research / No page charges / $3300
Geoderma / No page charges / $2500
European J. Soil Science / No page charges / $3000
Applied Soil Ecology / No page charges / $2500
Biology & Fertility of Soils / No page charges / $3000
Catena / No page charges / $2500
J. Soils & Sediments / No page charges / $3000
Pedobiologia / No page charges / $3000
Soil Research (formerly Australian J. Soil Research) / No page charges / $3000

Editorial board

The size of CJSS’s editorial board has grown over time. On a papers-per-board-member basis, CJSS appears to be comparable to other journals in the field. Currently, CJSS has only two board members from outside Canada. With the exception of SSSAJ (all but 10 editorial board members are from the US), CJSS’s editorial board is less international than the boards of other journals.

Table 4.

Journal / No. of papers published in 2011 / No. of editorial board members / No. of countries represented by editorial board /
CJSS / 79 / 26 / 3
Soil Research (formerly Australian J. Soil Research) / 73 / 25 / 10
SSSAJ / 234 / 76 / 8
Soil Biology & Biochemistry / 303 / 61 / 18
Plant & Soil / 387 / 72 / 24
Soil Tillage Research / 110 / 46 / 18
Geoderma / 238 / 71 / 20
European J. Soil Science / 84 / 47 / 16
Applied Soil Ecology / 126 / 37 / 17
Biology & Fertility of Soils / 99 / 35 / 21
Catena / 109 / 43 / 14
J. Soils & Sediments / 134 / 63 / 20
Pedobiologia / 67 / 28 / 16
Vadose Zone Journal / 112 / 55 / 13

3. Impact factor

IF = / # citations to citable items published in the previous 2 years
# citable items published in the previous 2 years
Citable items include articles, notes, and reviews but not editorials, meetingabstracts, news items, etc.

To increase the impact factor, then, journals need to:

·  be selective – solicit and publish papers that are likely to be highly cited during the next two calendar years, and avoid publishing papers that likely won’t be cited at all (see Figure 3)

o  articles of interest to a broad audience (e.g., interdisciplinary research) are more likely to be highly cited than articles of interest to a very small community

o  journals with rapid increases in their impact factor often report that they focus on publishing research that is novel (“demonstrates a clear scientific breakthrough” or “represents an advance in the field”)

o  papers with collaborators from many different countries tend to be more highly cited: the average number of citations an article receives increases with each additional collaborating country[9]

o  reviews are generally cited more often than original research articles – as a result, most journals are busy trying to solicit reviews

·  be strategic – focus the journal on very active or rapidly growing areas of research, as these tend to generate a large number of publications in a short period of time, leading to a large number of citations

o  a large, diverse, and active editorial board may be able to help identify such areas of research

o  other active areas of research may be suggested by the research topics supported and funded by governments and research funding agencies