journal rankings

[Mark Allon]

Dear Arlo,

Thanks for this.

Regards
Mark



>-----Original Message-----
>From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Arlo
Griffiths
>Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 2:07 AM
>To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: journal rankings
>
>Dear Mark,
>
>A few more words on this topic. I cannot unfortunately give precise
>references or websites, but recall that an initiative from the EU to
>rank journals came along within the last 1-2 years, and that scholars
>in Leiden (as, I presume, elsewhere) were asked to submit lists of
>journals relevant to their fields or perhaps there were already such
>lists (to which additions could be made). The important step was
>supplying an A, B or C rank behind each journal title. What we simply
>did here was to give the highest rank to all journals in our
>respective fields, regardless of whether they fulfilled requirements
>like being 'peer-reviewed' etc.
>
>Best,
>
>Arlo
>
>On Oct 1, 2007, at 1:09 PM, Mark Allon wrote:
>
>> Thank you to those who responded to my posting regarding journal
>> rankings.
>>
>> As all of you noted, such a ranking system is seriously flawed.
>> However,
>> this is being introduced in Australia and we have to respond and
>> influence the outcome. We will resister our concerns and attempt to
>> ensure that the "lists" are as comprehensive and as "reasonable" as
>> possible (although I know this will have many shortcomings). For this
>> purpose, if any of you have links to such documents already in place
>> (e.g. the Norwegian one mentioned by Lars), that would be helpful.
>>
>> Regards
>> Mark
>>
>>
>> Dr Mark Allon
>> Department of Indian Subcontinental Studies
>> University of Sydney
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
Dominik
>> Wujastyk
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:57 PM
>>> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>>> Subject: Re: journal rankings
>>>
>>> I'm sure I'm not alone in watching with anxiety the growth of
>> importance
>>> in science publishing of journal ranking and "impact factors" such
as
>>> citation counts.  At the same time, many of us feel relief that
these
>>> mechanisms have not yet had any major effect on our field.
>>>
>>> One can understand why bureaucrats are interested in these features,
>> and
>>> to some extent we are all affected.  Some journals do appear to have
>> more
>>> circulation and impact than others.  It's an easy argument to win
>>> that
>>> circulation = importance.  But the counter-argument is that this
>>> leads
>> to
>>> the famous Wildean definition of a cynic, as the man who "knows the
>> price
>>> of everything and the value of nothing".  After all, the biggest
>>> circulation publication in Britain (BY FAR) is the racist,
>> pornographic,
>>> sexist, sensationalist Sun ("FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER"): but
>>> would
>> we
>>> want that measure to be used in assessing the work of universities?
>>>
>>> Lars has also quite rightly stated some of the dangers and
>>> deleterious
>>> side-effects of this type of metrication.  The under-valuing of
>>> third-world journal publications is a chronic and reasonably
>>> widely-recognised problem.
>>>
>>> All this is yet another example of the reach of the audit culture
>>> over
>>> academic matters.  And this in itself is a sign that finance and
>>> decision-making are now almost completely controlled by a separate
>> cadre
>>> of people who are not deeply educated in the matters that they
>> administer.
>>> Lacking the training to come to informed decisions about scholarly
>>> matters, they do require some criteria by which to get a grasp on
>>> what
>>> they control, and hence the rise of the audit culture.
>>>
>>> For those who may not know it already, there was a fine analysis of
>> some
>>> of these issues by a couple of anthropologists published in 1999:
>>>
>>> Audit Culture and Anthropology: Neo-Liberalism in British Higher
>> Education
>>> Cris Shore; Susan Wright
>>> The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 5, No. 4.
>>>   Dec., 1999), pp. 557-575.
>>> Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1359-
>>> 0987%28199912%295%3A4%3C557%3AACAANI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
>>>
>>> This article stirred up controversy, and discussion continued in the
>> pages
>>> of the JRAI in later issues.  I recommend it strongly if you haven't
>> read
>>> it already.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dr Dominik Wujastyk
>>> Senior Research Fellow
>>> University College London
>>> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, 25 Sep 2007, Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
>>>
>>>> Such ranking is used at the university of Oslo (and also other
>> Norwegian
>>>> universities, I believe). It applies not only to Indology etc.
>>>> but to
>> all
>>>> subjects taught at our universities.
>>>>
>>>> The ranking system is incredibly annoying, because publishing in
the
>> "best"
>>>> journals gives higher prestige and more money in the till. This
>>>> means
>> that
>>>> less illustrious journals, where e.g. Indologists might like to
>> publish as a
>>>> matter of solidarity og good academic politics, easily get
>> marginalized. I
>>>> had to deal with this nonsense when I was lecturer in Oslo a couple
>> of years
>>>> ago, and I found it extremely exasperating. It is another
>> bureaucratic
>>>> attack on scholarly independence and good common sense.
>>>>
>>>> When you apply for a job, the locus of publication should in
>> principle not
>>>> matter. But when you apply for research money, or your department
>> does, it
>>>> does matter. Avoid such ranking at all costs!
>>>>
>>>> Lars Martin Fosse
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> From:
>>>> Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse
>>>> Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
>>>> 0674 Oslo - Norway
>>>> Phone: +47 22 32 12 19 Fax:  +47 850 21 250
>>>> Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45
>>>> E-mail: lmfosse at chello.no
>>>> http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
>>>>> Mark Allon
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 5:58 AM
>>>>> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>>>>> Subject: journal rankings
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Indology list members,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Australia is attempting to adopt a ranking system for
>>>>> journals so that our publications and academic output can be
>>>>> "graded" (with consequences for university funding). If any
>>>>> of you know of such rankings currently in place for journals
>>>>> relevant to Indology, Buddhist Studies, and Asian Studies,
>>>>> please let me know.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards
>>>>>
>>>>> Mark
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Dr Mark Allon
>>>>>
>>>>> Department of Indian Subcontinental Studies
>>>>>
>>>>> University of Sydney
>>>>>
>>>>> Brennan MacCallum Building A18
>>>>>
>>>>> Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
>>>>>
>>>>> Phone 02-93513891; fax 02-93512319
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>
>Arlo Griffiths
>Instituut Kern, Universiteit Leiden
>Postbus 9515
>2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
>
>phone: +31-(0)71-5272622
>fax: +31-(0)71-5272956
>email: <arlo.griffiths at let.leidenuniv.nl>
><www.kerninstitute.leidenuniv.nl>