A STUDY ON MOST FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS BY INDIAN SCIENTISTS IN PHYSICS

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1 A STUDY ON MOST FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS BY INDIAN SCIENTISTS IN PHYSICS S M Dhawan National Phys ical Laboratory, R S Yadav Insdoe, Delhi-1 Delhi-l Presents the analyses of citation counting in Physics from an Indian source journal - Indian Journal of Physics. Bringe out the percentage of physics literature covered in Indian journals, dependence on foreign journals, comparative use of books and serials, ranking of most frequently cited journals, and research trends in physics. The past fifty years have seen new developments and techniques in library science. Bibliometrics, popularly known as study of citations, is one among them and has gained inordinate importance for determining the utility and status of publications. This technique was first exploited by Gross and Gross [1) to present a list of most frequently cited journals arranged according to the frequency of citations taken from the source journal - Journal of the American Chemical Society. Several authors [-) later wielding somewhat similar method success-.ully attempted to present such lists in one field or the other. All such lists were based on journals published abroad, and reflected preferences and viewpoints on the use of journals of foreign scientists, but not of Indian scientists. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse citations from an Indian source journal viz, Indian Journal of Physics, purely in Indian context and determine (i) the percentage of physics literature covered in Indian Journals and relative dependence on foreign journals, (i i] the comparative use of books and serials, (i ii) their present status and give a listing (ranking) of most frequently cited journals in physics and (iv resarch trends in physics. Parameters: Basis of study Considering the long historical background and adequate representative coverage of articles from all sub-fields of physics, Indian J Phys was chosen as the source journal for this study. The years 15 and 16 have been examined to find the trends in the past decades and predict the future trends.. The study is purely in Indian context, hence it is likely to be biased towards Indian jouz na ls, 3. Citations were categorised among two groups, serials and books. (a) Serial: A serial is taken to be a publication issued in parts or otherwisej..at regular or irregular interval for an indefinite period. Publications of scientific societies, academies and institutions have been considered serials if issued regularly. Numbered colloq uium publications, publications of international congresses issued in numbered series have also been considered as serials. (b) Books: Proceedings of occasional conferences, monographs of scientific societies, academies, institutions, unless issued in series, have been treated as books. The -un-numbered series issued by commercial publishers are regarded as books. Published theses which did not appear in scientific serials were counted as books. 4. Manuscripts and unpublished theses.we r e entirely omitted. 5. Citations repeated in a source article were counted only once unless the pagination of citations diffe red. 6. Citations to abstracting journals were omitted. 7. Only latest title of the journal has been given in the list of most frequently cited serials. Vol 1 No 4 Dec

2 DHAWAN &. YADAV 8. Abbreviations as given in the Science Abstracts 'A' (Physics Abstracts) have been used.. Cited references were given the sarne subject code as that of the source article citing the references. 10. Cover to cover translation journals were deemed to be published Ir orn the country in which translations were carried out. In the process of collection of data, the following problems were encountered: 1. Abbreviations used by scientists were at t irne s tncompl eee and mtsj ead tng and as such were not intelligible. Sorne scientists aeerned to make their own abbreviations as for example aapp. J- which does not make any sense. (This situation calls for international agreement on the use of abbreviations espec ially when the nurnbe r of serials published every year is increasing).. At times, citations had to be searched in sorne ab s tracting journals in orde r to asce rtain what journal the author intended to refer to. 3. There were also some misprints which probably were due to inaccuracies in proof reading. Analysis of data Citations have been analysed by t irne, area, and subject with a v-iew to determine the comparative use of books and serials, the percentage of physics literature covered in Indian journals and current research trends obtaining in physics. Time analysis In Indian J Phys, 615 citations were made in 15 of which 555 were to serials, 5 to books and remaining one as misfit, whereas 1014 citations were cited in 16 of which 836 were to serials. 175 to books and remaining 3 as rrlislits. Tables 1 and give the breakdown of citations to serials and books by decade: Table 1 Breakdown of citations to serials and books in 15 by decade Total Serials Books 43 1, 30 5 Total Table Breakdown of citations to serials and books in 16 by decade Total Serials Books Total Ann Lib Sci Doc

3 M~T FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS In both tables citations to serials alone are comparatively far more than those to books. The scientists. therefore, consult serials as source of current scientific information more frequently than books. This finding tallies with the study made by the National Lending Library for Science at'lechnology [ll] in U.K. that 6l1. requests received by them were for serial literature. C.H. Brown [10] had also reported that scientists consult serials more frequently than books. Since the references cited in 15 and 16 are maximum in the decades 1_5 and respectively, it may be observed that the current research is based on recent findings and llterature published during earlier periods is of little use. The high concentration of citations in the current decade and their gradual decrease down to the last decade.reveals the rapid obsolescence of physics llterature as also that current literature is used extensively. National Lending Library 0 r Science at 'l echnology [I i) also concluded that 6<> requests received were for literature publfahed during the last one decade. Beyond one decade, the rate of obsolescence is faster and reaches the obsolete stage in the next two decade as may be seen in the table given above. Table 3 Percentage breakdown of physics literature cited in 15 by decade Decade and before Table 4 Percentage breakdown of physics literature cited in 16 by decade Decade eh and before It may be seen that a maximum of 0.8'1- of literature published prior to 10 was made use of. For a science library, it is worthwhile if physics literature published older than years is totally weeded out to make room for recent literature. Geographical analysis A breakdown of citations to serials published in different countries is given in 'lable 5. Maximum number of citations are to serials published in the U.S.A. followed by Great Britain and India. Based on references cited in 16, percentage of physics literature covered in Indian journals is only as against.88 in the U.S.A. and 1.3 in Great Britain journals. This showl! greater 'reliance by Indlan scientists on foreign literature particularly from English speaking countries. However, there is definite increase in the use ot foreign language journals. Subject analysis Subject analysis of the citations has been done by assuming that the subject of the cited reference is same as that of the article itself. Citations to serials have been classified under the following 11 broad headings; Mathematical Physics. Mechanics, Acoustics, Optics, Heat, Electricity and Magnetism, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Nuclear Physics, Fluids, Solid State Fhysics and Others. Vol 1 No 4 Dec

4 co Table 5 Breakdown of citations cited in 15, 16 to serials published in different countries co Year India USA GB Germany France Scandinavia Switzerland Netherlands Others No. of citations % of serial literature Total No. of journals from each country 15 = , 1 16 = tj :I: Table 6 Breakdown of citations, cited in 15 and 16 to serials by subject ~ >Z Subject Math, Mech Acoustic Optics Heat Elec 8. At. 8. Nuc. Fluid 5.5. P. Others Phys Mag. M. Phys. Phys. 0< '5 '6 '5 16 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 '5 '6 > tj> < > g - - t"' : en (l... t:1 0 (l Total

5 MOST FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS The term others include subject not covered in earlier headings such as Electronics and Ionosphere. Table 6 gives the subject breakdown of citations cited in 15 and 16. It may be observed that in 15 maximum number of citations are to solid state physics (6) followed by atomic and molecular physics (), nuclear physics (6). In 16 maximum number of citations are again to solid state physics (1) and nuclear physics (16) confirming there by that current trend of research is primarily in the fields of solid state physics, atomic and molecular physics and nuclear physics only. Though, the emphasis in both the periods is on solid state physics, there is a perceptible increase in emphasis on atomic and molecular physics and nuclear physics during the year 1.6. Table 7 Percentage breakdown 01 8,;,bjects 01 relerences cited In 15, 16 Year Math Mech Acous- Optics Heat Elec. Atomlc Nuc1. Fluld SaUd O;hers Phy. tics Eng. Phys Phys State Phys It may be seen from table 7 that percentage of reference cited during 15 and 16 has gone down in case of solid state physics from to 41. whereas it has gone up in the case of atomic and molecular physics fr om.01 to 10.0 and from 1.43 to 14.8 for nuclear physics. Percentage have obviously gone down for mechanics, acoustics, optics and electricity and magnetism showing that the stress on research in the conventional fields of physics has gone down in favour of modern physics such as solid state physics, nuclear physics. Ranking of Journals An attempt has been made to list the j our na l s according to frequency of citations, which is directly proportional to the number of articles a particular journal publishes. A particular journal in a particular subject publishing maximum number of articles and having greater frequency of publication must, therefore, be the most frequently cited journal. Tables 8 and are lists of journals in physics most frequently cited in 15 and 16 respectively arranged according to frequency of c ltat ions, These lists indicate by and large preferences of Indian scientists in the ir use of journal s, Some of the salient features of the lists are as follows: 1. In both lists predominance of citations ar e only to one and the same journal v iz. Phys Rev (0 and 7 citations respectively). In view of the fact that stress on current research is in solid state physics, atomic and molecular physics and nuclear physics and Phys Rev being the journal covering these fields exhaustively en an international level there is every r ea scn of its being the most popular journal among Indian scientists also. A casual examination of its volumes of the past and present reveals that it publishes articles greater in number than any other: a factor which strongly favours its repeated citations.. Indian J Phys appears on both the lists at number. Since this is the source.journal of the study and study is being made purely in Indian context, its appearance as such is not surpr i sing. 3. J Chem Phys occupying the th izd place in the ranking is not at all surprising since this journal increasingly includes basic problems that concern the properties of individual molecules and atoms as well as the behaviour of statistical ensembles of molecules and atoms besides chemical kinetics, molecular spectroscopy, transport processes and thermodynamics - the fundamental issues involved in the study of solid state physics, atomic and molecular phys ic s and nuclear phys ic s. Voll No 4 Dec 17 18

6 DHAWAN &. YADAV 4. Both lists contain journals that are specialised a c well as general in scope. The first 5 journals in/or the 16 list are to a great extent theoretical and specialised in scope. The use of journals general in scope is a fair indication of problem of literature scattering. To circwnvent this, specialised journals are taking birth. In 16 list, it may be seen that there are more specialised journals among the first 5 journals than in the 15 l[st. Comparison of the two lists Both Hsts have been compared in order to determine the changes in relative importance, scope and use of journals over the time and assess the factors governing these changes. The comparison in table 10 indicates ranking of 1st 5 journals on the 16 list with ranking of the same se rials on the 15 list. The following conclusions may be drawn. It is rather r erna r xabfe that Pny s Rev occupies the first place in the ranking even according to the study conducted by C.H. Brown [10] for the year 154. i] Journals which have retained their ranking are Phys Rev, and Indian J Phys. ii) Journals which have improved their positions are Indian J Pure &. App Phys, J Phys (Proc Phys Soc ), Nuc Phys, Sov Phys- JETP, J Phys Chern, J Chem Phys, Phil Mag, J Am Chern Soc, Acta Crystallogr, J Phys Soc Japan, Arkiv Phys, and Can J Phys. iii] Journals and forznerly listed in the 1st 5 journals on the 15 list but now apperar ing it\. l'jb'j HSt are opecur ocmrn Acta, J MOlecular Spectroscopy and Proc Natn Inst Sci India. iv) New journal which started publication after 15 but appearing in the 16 list among 1st 5 journals is J Math Phys. v) Journals whose ranking have gone down are Proc R Soc, Nuovo Ciznento, Rev Sc Instrum, Trans Faraday Soc, J Appl Phys and Rev Mod Phys. It is becuase articles of interest being published in such journals are now being published in znore specialised journals. A comparison of 1st 5 journals in the 15 list has also been made with the ranking of SOITleserials on the 16 list in so far as they are not included in the first comparison. Table 11 indicates this comparison. It may be seen that the following journals are not among the first 5 journals on the 16 list. Nature; J Glass Technology, Physica, Proc Inst Elec Eng, J Chern Soc, J Geophys Res, Ann Phys; J Atomos & Terr Phys, Proc Leeds Phil &. Lit Soc, and Sci Pep Inst Phys Chern Res. As concluded in the subject analysis that the current res ea.rch is primarily in soud state physics, atomic and molecular physics, and nuclear physics, the exclusion of these journal s is again not surprising since they are not core journals except for Physica, and Ann Phys. The possible factors which govern the. shifts in the ranking of journals are: i) birth of new and death of old journals; ii] number of papers published in a journal. tii) whether they are abstracted or indexed in secondary journals; iv) international and national research trends in the subject; v) quality and scope of the journal; and vi) A summary below: language of the journal of the main findings is given 1. The study reveals that re sea rch emphasis is on the branches of modern physics espeeially solid state, atomic, molecular and nuclear physics.. Like other sciences, physics is also a rapidly changing science as indicated by a) the high concentration of citations ODthe recent literature in the current decade. b) less emphasis on the old literature. 3. Serials as source of current scientific information are more frequently cons11l.ted than books. 4. Reliance on literature published in a.dva.nced countries like the USA, Great Britain 10 Ann Lib set Doc

7 MOST FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS in India. 5. The use of journals published in foreign languages has increased. 6. Phys Rev is also extensively used by Indian scientists. 7. Indian J Phys retains its popularity among the Indian scientists as one of the first two extensively used journals, showing thereby that th;s Indian source journal in physics is keeping up its pace with the ne w trends of research in the fi e l d of contemporary physics. The author s are grateful to Shri Dha npat Ra i and Shri T. S. Raja g opa lan for their invaluable suggestions to complete this study. Rank NO_. Table 8 Ranking as in 15 continues to be more than that on literature published Title' N-o-.-o-f- citation~_ Aust J Phys (Australia) 3 Can J Phys (Canada) 3 J Aeoust Soc Am (USA) 3 J Phys Soe Jap (Japan) 3 Prog Theor Phys (Japan) 3 Terr Mag Atmos El e c (USA) 3 Trans A lee (USA) 3 Z Elektroehem (Germany) 3? Krystallogr (Germany) 3 Am Phys Soc Bul1 (USA) Bull Soc Chern (France) Bull Chern Soc.Iap (Japan) C R Held Sean Aca d Sei (France) Current Sci (India) J Sci &. Ind Res (India) J Sei Res Banaras Hindu Univ (India) Naturwissensehaften (Germany)' Nucleonic s (USA) Nucl Phys (Netherlands) Proe Indian Sc Cong Z Naturforseh (Germany) Zh Eksp &. Teor Fiz (USSR) Phys Rev (USA) 7 Indian J Phys 68 Proc 'R Soe (GB) 47 J Chern Phys (USA) 34 Nature (GB) 14 Total number of journals cited: 10 J Phys (GB) (Incorporating Proe Phys Soe &. Br J Ranking a s in Appl Phys) 14 Rev Mod Phys (USA) 14 J Glass Technology (GB) 13 Nuovo Cimento (Italy) 1 Physiea (Netherlands) 1 Proc Inst Elee Eng (GB) 1 Zeit Phys (Germany) 1 Phil Mag (GB) 10 Rev Sei Instrum (USA) 8 Trans Faraday Soe (GB) 8 J App1 Fhys (USA) 7 J Chern Soe (GB) 7 Acta Crystal10gr (Denmark) 6 J Geophys Res (USA) 6 Ann Phys (Germany) 5 J Atmos &. Terr Phys (GB) 5 Proe Leeds Phil &. Lit Soc (GB) 5 Sei Pap Inst Phys Chern Res (Japan) 5 Ark Fys (Sweden) 4 J Am Chern Soc (USA) 4 Proc Indian Aca d Sei 4 Sci &. Culture (India) 4 Z Phys Chern Frankfurt (Germany) 4 Rank No Title No. of (::J.!.~tio~,~ Phys Rev (USA) 0 Indian J Phys 66 J Chern Phys (USA) 58 Indian J Pure &. Appl Phys J Phys (GB) (Incorporating Proe Phys Soc &. Br J Appl Phys) Proe R Soc (GB) 5 Speetrochirn Acta (GB) 3 Nucl Phys (Netherlands) 1 Phil Mag (GB) 17 Z Phys (Germany) 16 J Math Phy s, New York (USA) 16 J Molee Spectrose (USA) 16 Sov Phys-JETP (USA) 13 J Am Chern Soc (USA) 13 Aeta Crystallogr (Denmark) 1 Nuovo Cimento (Italy) 1 Proc Nat Inst Sei (India) 1 (Now Proc Indian Nat Sci Acad) Vol 1 No 4 Dec 17 11

8 DHAW AN &. Y ADA V ;8,7!-'l1y,.; Soc JdP (Japan) II '\rk Fys (S\\f'rien) Iq lq Rev Sc i lnstrum (USA) Trans Faraday Suc (GB) Can J Phys (Canada) 8 J Appl Fhys (USA) 7 J Phys Chern (USA) 7 (Formerly J Phys &. Colloid Chern) Rev Mod Phys (USA) 7 Acta Chern Scandinavica (Netherlands) 6 Ann Phys (Germany) 6 Current Sci (India) 6 J Phys &. Chern Solids (GB) 6 (Fonnerly Phys &. Chern Solids) Z Phys Chern Frankfurt (Germany) 6 ~cta Met (USA) 5 Am Mineral (USA) 5 Aust J Chern (Australia) 5 Bell Syst Tech J (USA) 5 C R Hebd Sean Acad Sci B (France) 5 Ind ian J The or Phy s 5 J Acoust Soc Am (USA) 5 J Opt Soc Am (USA \ 5. Nucl I.nstrurn &. Mech (Netherlands) 5 Phil Trans (GB) 5 Phys Rev Lett (USA) 5 Proc Cambr idge Phil Soc (GB) 5 Z Naturforsch (Germany) 5 Ann Phys (USA) 4 Aust J Phys (Australia) 4 J Geophys Res (USA) 4 Nature (GB) 4 Physica (Netherlands) 4 Phys Fluids (USA) 4 Appl Phys G (India) 3 Astrophys J (USA) 3 Can J Chern (Canada) 3 J Atrn s &. Terr Phys (GB) 3 J Chern Soc (GB) 3 J Fluid Mech (GB) 3 J Indian Chern Soc 3 J Inst Met (GB) 3 Makromolekulare Chemie (Switzerland) 3 Q J Mech &. Appl Math (GB) 3 Solid State Electron (GB) 3 Z Angew Math &. Phys (Switzerland) 3 Z Kristallogr (Germany) 3 Zh Tekh Fiz (USSR) 3 Acta Chern (Hungary) Am Math (USA) App1 Sci Res (Netherlands) Bull Calcutta Math So c (India) Bull Chern Soc Jap (Japan) Bull Soc Chern Belg (Belgium) Disscuss Faraday Soc (GB) Int J Electron (GB) Nach r Akad Wiss Gottingen (Germany) Phys Lett (Netherlands) Polym Sci (USSR) Froc Inst Elec Eng (GB) Proc lnd ian Acad Sc i Proc London Math Soc (GB) Rep Prog Phys (GB) Sci Light (Japan) Sov Phys-Solid State (USA) Trans ASME (USA) Trans NE Coast Inst Eng Shipbldg Z Metallk (GB) (Germany) Total number of journals cited: 166 Table 10 Comparison of 1st 5 journals on the 16 list with the same journals on the 15 list Serials as ordered in 16 list Physics Rev (USA) I Indian J Phys J Chern Phys (USA) 3 Indian J Pure & Appl Phys 4 J Phys (GB) (Incorporating Proc Phys Soc &. Br J Appl Phys) 4 Proc R Soc (GB) 6 Spectrochim Acta (GB) 5 Nucl Phys (Netherlands) 8 Phil Mag (GB) Z Phys (Germany) 10 J Math Phy a.new York (USA) 10 J Mole Spectrosc 10 (USA) Sov Phys JETP (USA) 13 J Am Chern Soc (USA) 13 Acta Crystallogr (Denmark) 15 Nuovo Cimento (Italy) 15 Proc Inst Sci India (Now Proc Indian Nat Sci Acad) 15 J Phys Soc Jap (Japan) I not listed 13 Started in 160 Started in Not listed "li1 pub. pub. 1 Ann Lib Sc i Doc

9 MOST FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS Ark Fys (Sweden) 1 4 Rev Sc lnstrum (USA) 1 14 Trans Faraday Soc (GB) 1 14 Can J Phys (Canada) J Appl Phys (USA) 3 16 J Phys Chern (USA) (Formerly J Phys & Colloid Chern) 3 53 Rev Mod Phys (USA) 3 5 Table 11 Comparison of 1st 5 journals on the 15 list with the same journals on the 16 list, not covered in Table 10. Serails as ordered in 154 list 15 Rank 16 Rank Nature* (GB) 5 J Glass Technology* (GB) 8 3 Phy-sica (Netherlands) Proc lnst Elec Eng (GB) J Chern Soc (GB) 16 J Geophys Res (USA) 18 Ann Phys (Ge r many ) 0 6 J Atmos & Terr Phys* (GB) 0 Proc Leads Phil & Lit Soc (GB) 0 Not listed Sci Pap lnst Phys Chern Res (Japan) 0 Not listed Journals marked * show adverse deviation. REFERENCES [ 1] GROSS and GROSS: College libraries and uses of chemical education literature. Science, 17, 66, 5-. [] ALLEN, E S: Periodicals for mathematics. Science 1, 70, 5-4. [3] HOOKER, Ruth H: A study of scientific periodicals in Physics and Engineering. Rev Sci lnstrum 135, 6, [4] GROSS, WOODFORD: Serial literature used by American Geologists. Science 1, 73, [5] FUSSLER, H H: Changing v alue of the Research literature used by Physicists and Chemists in US. Lib Qly 14, 1, 1-35, [6] RAISIG, L M: Medical literature - a statistical bibliography. Bull Med Lib Ass. July 16, (3), [7] RODERICK, Carve : Tropical agricultural literature. Q Bull AALD, July 163, 81, [8] BROOKER, B C: Optimum p% Lib~ary of Scientific periodicals. Nature, Aug. 171, 3(51), [] BROOKER, B C: The growth utility and obs ole scence of scientific per iod ical literature. J Doc 170, 6, [10] BROWN, C H: Scientific serials. ACRL Monograph Number 16. Chicago, ACRL, 156. [11] KEENAN (Stee1a), BRlCKWEDDE, F G: Journal literatur e covered by Physic s Abstract in 165 A.I. P., Feb. 168, ID68-1. '[1] Success at Boston Spa. Nature 16, Z, (13 ] CLEMENTS, D W: Survey of interlibrary lending in eight local areas. J Librarianship 16, 1, 107. Vol 1 No 4 Dec 17 13