La investigación en Comunicación. Análisis bibliométrico de las revistas de mayor impacto del ISI

Antonio Castillo Esparcia; Ángel  Rubio Moraga; Ana Almansa Martínez

doi:10.4185/RLCS-067-955-248-270

Authors

Antonio Castillo Esparcia University of Málaga https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9751-8628
Ángel Rubio Moraga Complutense University of Madrid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3943-846X
Ana Almansa Martínez University of Málaga https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0256-6369

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-067-955-248-270

Keywords:

Communication, Indexing, Scientific Databases, Evaluation, Research

Abstract

This article examines some of the most common methodological problems in the evaluation of academic journals in the field of communication, based on the content analysis of the ten journals with the highest impact factors in the Social Sciences Citation Index. The analysis focuses on establishing the academic and research origins and links of the authors of the articles published by these scientific publications, as well as the most predominant subject matters, genres and methodologies among the articles of these publications. This research aims to achieve two objectives: On the one hand, to analyse the role of the evaluation of communication journals in the assessment of research, which will allow us to show the difficulties of applying the bibliometric methods used by Thomson Scientific to determine the impact of journals and, on the other hand, to establish a development frameworkfor thoseSpanish communication journals that meet some of the requirements of the Social Sciences Citation Index but are not yet indexed in it, either because their impact factor is still low or because of their lack ofinternational dissemination. This research has been financed by the University of Malaga’s Research Institute for Public Relations.

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Author Biographies

Antonio Castillo Esparcia, University of Málaga

Ph.D. by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His doctoral thesis focused on the communication strategies used by lobbyist groups.

He has worked as Vice Dean of Academic Management at the School of Communication Sciences, of the University of Malaga.

Professor of Public Relations at the University of Malaga. Director of the Master's Degree programme in “Strategic Direction and Innovation in Communication” and Ph.D. Degree programme in “Strategic Management in Communication” at the University of Malaga. Director of the research group Las Relaciones Públicas en la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa(Public Relations in Small and Medium Enterprises).

Publications:
(2011): “Novo scenarios de participaçao politica: análise das estratégias de comunicaçao dos grupos de pressao”, in Organicom, Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil), no. 14: 64-86.

(2010): Social Responsability in Spain: analysis of the major financial institutions”, in Papanikos, G.: International Essays on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Athens Institute For Education and Research, Athens.

(2010) with Carretón, MC: “Investigación en Comunicación. Estudio bibliométrico de las Revistas de Comunicación en España”, in Comunicación y Sociedad, Vol. XXIII, N° 2, December: 289-327

(2010): “Think Tanks and Political Communication”, in Oglesby, Rodney, Leblanc, Paul H. and Adams, Marjorie: Business Research Yearbook, Ed. International Academy of Business Disciplines, Maryland (USA).

Ángel Rubio Moraga, Complutense University of Madrid

Ph.D. in Information Sciences and B.A. in Journalism, both by the Complutense University of Madrid. Associate Professor at the Department of History of Social Communication of the School of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Specialist in new information technologies, internet and digital journalism. He has published numerous articles on these subjects in particular about the features and transformations of the journalist in view of the new digital challenge, and on the freedom of expression in the Internet, the exercise of citizens’ rights and duties on the Internet, and the evolution of the information society in Spain and the Nordic area. On this last aspect he has recently published two books: Industrias Culturales. El modelo nórdico como referencia en España(Cultural industries. The Nordic model as reference in Spain)co-authored by Mariano Cebrián and Javier Maestro and published by Comunicación Social in 2011; and La Sociedad de la información en los países bálticos. Bajo el influjo del modelo nórdico (The information society in the Baltic countries. Under the influence of the Nordic model), edited by Mariano Cebrián and published by Gedisa in 2009. He is also the coordinator of the series of books Prensa y Periodismo Especializado. Historia y Realidad Actual (Specialised Press and Journalism. History and Current Reality),published by Grupo Editorial Henares every two years from 2000 until 2010.

He is currently taking part in various research projects on communication and research in the field of the media and the information society. Some of these projects are, for example: Televisión y Cultura Popular Durante el Franquismo: Programación, Programas y Consumo Televisivo (1956-1975) (Television and Popular Culture During the Francoism: Programming, Programmes and Television Consumption)directed by Julio Montero-Diaz; Las industrias culturales en la Sociedad de la Información y el conocimiento de los países nórdicos (Cultural industries in the Information and Knowledge Society of the Nordic Countries), directed by Mariano Cebrián-Herreros; and Neurocomunicación: Gestión de la comunicación social basada en las neurociencias. Experimento de creación e inteligencia conectiva o a escamas (Neuro-communication: Management of Social Communication based on Neuroscience. Experiment of connective or escalated creation and intelligence),directed by Jesús Timoteo-Álvarez.

Ana Almansa Martínez, University of Málaga

Professor at the School of Communication Sciences of the University of Malaga, where she has taught Public Relations Techniques and Tools, Political Communication, and Specialised Public Relations since 2001.

Professor in the doctoral programmes of the University of Extremadura, the University of Almeria, the Major University of Chile, the Catholic University of Murcia, and the University of Malaga.

At the University of Malaga, she is also the Coordinator of the Ph.D. programme in New Communication Technologies and the Academic Director of the University Expert Course in “Events Communication, Protocol and Organisation” and the Specialisation Courses in Communication for equality.

Her research line focuses on institutional, corporate and organisational communication and the impact of new technologies on these areas. She has participated in the research groups of the European Union, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, Andalusian Government, and the University of Malaga.

She is the author of the books Del gabinete de prensa al gabinete de comunicación, Assessorias de Comunicaçao and Teoría, Estructura y Funcionamiento de los Gabinetes de Comunicación: El caso andaluz. She has co-authored the book Financiera y Minera en Andalucía: cien años de historia industrial (The Financial and mining industries in Andalusia: one hundred years of industrial history). She has also published over fifty texts in books and scientific journals.

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