关键词: 期刊热点指数, 影响因子, 期刊评价, 高被引论文

Abstract:

[Purpose/Significance] To promote the development of world-class scientific journals, it is necessary for journals to enhance their understanding of the evolving trends in scientific frontiers and research hotspots. Therefore, characterizing the participation and functional role of journals in research hotspots from the perspective of the journals themselves is of great significance for advancingg journal evaluation theory and promoting discipline development, and journal construction. Relatively little existing research has addressed the role of journals in forming research hotspots within disciplines. It is difficult to reveal the functional differences between journals in the formation and evolution of research hotspots. This study proposed a journal hotspot index evaluation and method based on highly cited papers, revealing the role and function of academic journals in research hotspots in the field, promoting the diversified evaluation of academic journals, and providing a new perspective and useful supplement to journal evaluation. [Methods/Process] Highly cited papers are often concentrated on research topics that have received high attention and continuous discussion in the academic community within a specific period. Their concentrated appearance usually corresponds to the formation of research hotspots or important theoretical progress. Based on the participation and citation of highly cited papers by journals, this study constructed two measurement indicators: the journal's hotspot leadership and hotspot absorption. Based on this, a quadrant diagram was established to classify and evaluate four different types of journal sets, revealing their distribution characteristics and patterns. This study used ESI agricultural science journals as an example to explore the correlation between the journal hotspot index and traditional journal metrics. [Results/Conclusions] The journal hotspot index demonstrates good discriminatory and identifiable characteristics, complementing existing journal evaluation metrics to some extent and identifying journals playing a key role in the development of research hotspots in the field. As a valuable supplement to the journal evaluation index system, the journal hotspot index offers a new analytical perspective on journal development and quality levels, facilitating a more comprehensive and accurate evaluation and positioning of journals, and providing a reference for the development and construction direction of journals in my country. However, the index system still has certain limitations, mainly in the time window for highly cited papers and its adaptability to different subject areas. Future research could expand into more subject areas to further verify the interdisciplinary applicability of this method. Furthermore, we will consider introducing more dynamic window mechanisms to enhance the index's adaptability to emerging disciplines and journals, thereby improving the universality and explanatory power of the journal hotspot index.

Key words: journal hotspot index, impact factor, journal evaluation, highly cited papers