ShareFrequent asked questions Scientific journals
- How to consult journal quality indices (impact, classification, citations, etc.)?
- Must one include the impact indices for the journals in which one has published works?
- What are quartiles?
- Which quartile is given in cases where a journal appears in more than one JCR category?
- What does the number of citations, in the section on indexed published works in the curriculum vitae, refer to?
- What do I need to do in order for my details to appear on the Portal de la Recerca de Catalunya (PRC)?
How to consult journal quality indices (impact, classification, citations, etc.)?
AQU Catalunya does not have its own classification for journals. In the evaluation of journal quality, use is made of scientific classification given in Web of Science: Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Science Edition, Social Sciences Edition and other citation databases (e.g. SCOPUS)
Different tools are available that provide information on the scientific dissemination of journals (p.e. MIAR).
University library services have professional staff who can be consulted, together with tools that can be used, such as the following:
- Centre de Recursos per a l'Aprenentatge i la Investigació · Universitat de Barcelona
- Servei de Biblioteques · Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Bibliotècnica · Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
- Biblioteca i Informàtica · Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- Biblioteques · Universitat Ramon Llull
- Biblioteca i Documentació · Universitat de Lleida
- Biblioteca · Universitat de Girona
- Centre de Recursos per a l’Aprenentatge i la Investigació · Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Biblioteca · Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
- Biblioteca · Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya
- Biblioteca · Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
- Biblioteca · Universitat Abat Oliba
Must one include the impact indices for the journals in which one has published works?
Yes, impact indices must be included. The corresponding indices are published by ISI Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and can be consulted over the Internet at all public universities in Catalonia. At the present time, the JCR only publishes the impact indices for science (Science Citation Index) and the social sciences (Social Science Citation Index).
What are quartiles?
Candidates must give the quartile that the journal appears in within the corresponding category of the JCR where it appears.
For example, a journal appears in the Applied Physics category of the JCR. Journals are first put into decreasing order according to their impact index, with the first having the highest impact index and the last with the lowest impact index. In order to calculate the quartiles of a journal appearing, for example, in position 12 out of 100, the total number (100) is divided by 4. In this particular example, this means that each quartile is made up of 25 journals, with the first quartile comprising the journals from 1 to 25, the second from 26 to 50, the third from 51 to 75 and the fourth one from 76 to 100.
Which quartile is given in cases where a journal appears in more than one JCR category?
In cases where a journal appears in more than one category, the category where the journal has a higher position is to be stated or, in other words, the most advantageous.
What does the number of citations, in the section on indexed published works in the curriculum vitae, refer to?
This refers to the number of times that an article has been cited by other researchers. The number of citations can be consulted on Web of Science.
What do I need to do in order for my details to appear on the Portal de la Recerca de Catalunya (PRC)?
If you are a researcher at one of the high education institutes and/or research institutes listed on the Research in Catalonia web portal and you would like your publications, projects and/or research groups to appear or suggest modifications, please get in direct contact with us via this link.