Re: How many (peer reveiwed) journals are there?

[richards1000@comcast.net]

In United States research universities and colleges, a great deal 
of library support to faculty consists of assisting junior 
faculty in attaining tenure, through the writing of articles for 
a tenure portfolio.  In U.S. research universities and colleges, 
articles published in non-peer-reviewed (albeit edited) journals 
are ascribed much less value in a tenure portfolio than are 
articles published in peer-reviewed journals.  That is, for U.S. 
scholars and academic librarians, editorial control is not 
equivalent to peer-review.  Accordingly, knowing which scholarly 
journals are peer-reviewed is extremely important to U.S. 
scholars-- both the junior faculty who are the heaviest library 
users, and the senior faculty who assess their tenure portfolios 
and so need to know which journals are peer-reviewed--and the 
librarians who assist them.

Currently, to obtain key information about a scholarly journal, 
U.S. scholars and academic librarians need to use multiple 
reference sources: DOAJ (or the journal's Website) to determine 
open access status, and Ulrich's (or the journal's Website) to 
determine peer review status.  Ulrich's does not consistently 
list OA information, and searching a journal's Website is often 
inefficient because journal information on such a site is usually 
scattered and often incomplete.  A single reference source other 
than a journal's Website and listing both OA and peer review 
information would lower search costs for U.S. scholars and 
academic librarians.  DOAJ would thus substantially enhance its 
value to U.S. scholars and academic librarians, allowing them to 
rely often on a single reference source for key journal 
information, if DOAJ records stated whether journals were 
peer-reviewed.

Respecting ISSN, that alone doesn't seem to be adequate to 
identify a scholarly journal, since most non-scholarly 
periodicals in general distribution have ISSNs.  ISBD appears to 
define "journal" in our sense as a "learned periodical," that is, 
a publication issued in successive parts and more frequently than 
annually, and intended to continue indefinitely, that is 
"learned."  ISBD does not define "learned", however, so the ISBD 
definition is incomplete.  I don't currently have access to AACR2 
or CONSER documentation, and so can't assess definitions in those 
works.  It seems we need to rely on the research of Sally Morris 
and Michael Mabe and their colleagues for a definition of 
"journal" in our sense.

Robert C. Richards, Jr., J.D.*, M.A., M.S.L.I.S.
Philadelphia, PA
E-mail: richards1000@comcast.net
* Admitted to practice in New York only.

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Anna-Lena Johansson" <Anna-Lena.Johansson@lub.lu.se>

> DOAJ is not a general directory for periodicals or oa 
> materials, but a resource solely concentrating on disseminating 
> scholarly/academic journal content. We do not specify 
> information about peer-review in DOAJ since ALL journals 
> included in the directory have either peer-review or editorial 
> control (made by minimum two persons). This is one of the most 
> important selection criteria for being listed in DOAJ, please 
> refer to 
> http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=3DloadTempl&templ=3Dabout#criteria
>
> Anna-Lena Johansson
> Librarian
> Lund University Libraries, Head Office
> anna-lena.johansson@lub.lu.se
> www.doaj.org