1996 Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 107-116
This study attempts to determine the core journals, i. e. the important journals, in social science research based on two indicators: the number of articles and the number of citations received. The former is obtained from the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS, 1981-1985), which covers four disciplines-economics, political science, sociology and social and cultural anthropology. The latter is extracted from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI,1985), which provides an 'impact factor' calculated as the ratio between the number of citations received and the number of citable articles published. The top one-third of journals in the above four disciplines selected according to each indicator are defined as the core journals. These journals are classified into five groups, and include those appearing in either or both of the IBSS and the SSCI. Moreover, the core journals in the social sciences as a whole are found according to their interdisciplinary nature. These journals have to be reviewed by social science researchers before they can apply for library collection management.
