[Paper Review] The influence of online posting dates on the bibliometric indicators of scientific articles

Mercedes Echeverría, David Stuart+1 more|SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología|Feb 14, 2018

scientometrics and bibliometrics research17 references9 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates how Advance Online Publication (AOP) dates affect bibliometric indicators—specifically Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and Immediacy Index—using 18,526 articles from 61 urology and nephrology journals published in 2013 and 2014. It finds that AOP significantly accelerates citation timing, with statistically significant differences in JIF between journals with and without AOP (p=0.001), and a moderate correlation between online-to-print delay and Immediacy Index in 2014 (rs=0.280, p=0.029), highlighting the need for standardized AOP date reporting.

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the difference in timing between the online availability of articles and their corresponding print publication and how it affects two bibliometric indicators: Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and Immediacy Index. This research examined 18,526 articles, the complete collection of articles and reviews published by a set of 61 journals on Urology and Nephrology in 2013 and 2014. The findings suggest that Advance Online Publication (AOP) accelerates the citation of articles and affects the JIF and Immediacy Index values. Regarding the JIF values, the comparison between journals with or without AOP showed statistically significant differences (P=0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). The Spearman's correlation between the JIF and the median online-to-print publication delay was not statistically significant. As to the Immediacy Index, a significant Spearman's correlation (rs=0.280, P=0.029) was found regarding the median online-to-print publication delays for journals published in 2014, although no statistically significant correlation was found for those published in 2013. Most journals examined (n=52 out of 61) published their articles in AOP. The analysis also showed different publisher practices: eight journals did not include the online posting dates in the full-text and nine journals published articles showing two different online posting dates--the date provided on the journal website and another provided by Elsevier's Science Direct. These practices suggest the need for transparency and standardization of the AOP dates of scientific articles for calculating bibliometric indicators for journals.

Motivation & Objective

• To examine the impact of Advance Online Publication (AOP) on bibliometric indicators such as Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and Immediacy Index.
• To assess the timing difference between online posting and print publication and its effect on citation acceleration.
• To identify inconsistencies in AOP date reporting across publishers and journals.
• To evaluate whether variations in online-to-print publication delays correlate with changes in bibliometric indicators.
• To advocate for transparency and standardization in AOP date reporting to ensure reliable bibliometric calculations.

Proposed method

• Collected and analyzed 18,526 articles from 61 journals in urology and nephrology published in 2013 and 2014.
• Measured online-to-print publication delays by comparing the official online posting date with the print publication date.
• Calculated JIF and Immediacy Index for each journal using citation data from the first year after publication.
• Applied the Mann-Whitney U test to compare JIF values between journals with and without AOP.
• Used Spearman’s rank correlation to assess the relationship between median online-to-print delay and Immediacy Index.
• Identified discrepancies in AOP date reporting, including cases where two different dates were listed (e.g., journal website vs. ScienceDirect).

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Does Advance Online Publication (AOP) significantly affect the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of scientific journals?
• RQ2 To what extent does the delay between online posting and print publication correlate with the Immediacy Index?
• RQ3 How do variations in AOP date reporting practices across publishers influence bibliometric indicator calculations?
• RQ4 Are there statistically significant differences in JIF between journals that use AOP and those that do not?
• RQ5 Is there a measurable impact of online publication timing on the speed of citation accumulation?

Key findings

• Journals using Advance Online Publication (AOP) showed statistically significant differences in Journal Impact Factor (JIF) compared to those without AOP (p=0.001, Mann-Whitney U test).
• A significant positive correlation was found between online-to-print publication delay and the Immediacy Index in 2014 (rs=0.280, p=0.029), though no such correlation was observed in 2013.
• The Spearman’s correlation between JIF and median online-to-print delay was not statistically significant across the dataset.
• Fifty-two out of 61 journals (85.2%) in the study used Advance Online Publication (AOP) for article release.
• Eight journals did not include the online posting date in the full-text, and nine journals reported two different online posting dates—one on the journal website and another on Elsevier’s ScienceDirect.
• The study concludes that inconsistent AOP date reporting practices undermine the reliability of bibliometric indicators, necessitating standardization and transparency in date reporting.