Ranking Journals in the Humanities: An Australian Case Study‪.‬

Librarians have been engaged in the evaluation of journals for almost as long as journals have been published. The methods which we have used for evaluation have often been rather homespun--sometimes little more sophisticated than 'I know my users and I know what they want'. However in recent years, with dramatically rising serial prices, the evaluation of the journal collection has become more of a challenge for academic librarians, and we have had to look for more intellectually rigorous methods. Somewhat to our surprise, we have discovered that journal evaluation is an issue which is now of interest to many of our clients as well. As funding bodies put pressure on universities to demonstrate the value of their work, the question of how to measure the quality of research outputs has become critical for universities and for those who work in them. The Australian Government, for example, has recently established the Research Quality Framework 'to develop the basis for a more consistent and comprehensive approach to assessing the quality and impact of publicly funded research.' (1)