Journal Quality in the Asian Region: Results of a Pilot Study for the IFLA Round Table of Library and Information Science Journals.

This paper reports on a pilot project in Asia sponsored by the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and institutions) Round Table of Library and Information Science Journals that had the following objectives: to identify the most commonly accepted criteria for evaluating LIS (Library and Information Science) journals; to evaluate the success of LIS journals in meeting the criteria; to suggest critical success factors for improving the quality of LIS journals; and to assess the feasibility of an international project aimed at determining LIS journal quality and success factors. Twenty LIS journal editors in Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines were interviewed. Quality of papers emerged as the key category, with a number of criteria used to determine this quality, including advancement of knowledge, new information or data, theoretical soundness, level of scholarship, acceptable research design, and appropriate methodology and analysis. In-depth analysis of sample copies of journals provided by the editors was performed, and the quality criteria were ranked by importance. It was found that, given the relative ease with which data were collected for the pilot study and the ready participation of most editors approached for input, a more substantial project would be possible with only low level funding. (Contains 11 references.) (MES)