Journal Citation Analysis in Health Communication: Insights for Core Journals and Relevant Subjects


 

Lisa Romero
Associate Professor & Head, Communications Library
University of Illinois

Editor’s note: This article is based on original research conducted and published in Collection Management which can be accessed here.

Background

The CDC reports that up to 40% of annual deaths in the U.S. from each of the five leading causes are preventable. One might wonder if something can be done to prevent these deaths and how health communication might play a role. More specifically, librarians who manage health communication collections might wonder how they can contribute to the effort. These librarians have a unique role and responsibility in managing collections necessary for research and ensuring their collections remain timely and accessible.

According to Du Pré (2017), health communication is important to individuals, organizations, and society because it is crucial to meeting medical goals, maintaining personal well-being, saving time and money, and understanding health information.[1] Health communication was formalized as an academic field in the 1970s.[2] Since 1995, research in health communication has increased tremendously with researchers within and outside the discipline contributing.[3] With two major journals dedicated to its research, health communication scholarship relates to many other subjects like communication, media, medicine, psychology and public health.[4]

Library collections have a responsibility to meet the information needs of health communication researchers because of health communication’s importance to society, the increase in research output, and its relevance to other academic disciplines. To accomplish this goal, librarians must know what resources are required for health communication research. The current study employed two methodologies – citation analysis and Bradford’s Law of Scattering – to determine journals necessary for health communication research and sort them according to library type and access.

Methodology

Citation analysis is a methodology that examines the frequency and patterns of citations in published literature. It is an important tool for librarians because it is use-based representing research activities of scholars.[5] Citation data provides insight into what resources researchers use, don’t use, and how often they are used. Several tools provide citation data, including widely used ones such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS).

Bradford’s Law of Scattering uses ranked citation data from resources, such as journals, and typically sorts them into three or four zones. Each zone represents a similar number of citations, but a different number of journal titles. Because the journals are ranked by number of citations, the zone at the top has fewer journals while the bottom zone has more journals. Each of the zones can represent relevance (core, major, supporting, or peripheral) or imply access (full-text via OPAC, consortia, ILL, etc). Bradford’s Law may be used to inform collection decisions because it identifies a core list, or zone, while considering library budgets.[6]

By applying these two methodologies, this study:

  • Collected citations to and from Health Communication (1997-2022) and Journal of Health Communication (1999-2022) via WoS (81,282 citations)
  • Analyzed citation data to determine the most relevant journals and subject areas
  • Applied Bradford’s Law to determine zones of access

Considering the interdisciplinary nature of health communication, the study addresses the needs of researchers whose research relates to health communication and provides:

  • A ranked list of journals necessary for research
  • A list of journals sorted by zone relating to different degrees of access
  • Information on the most relevant subject areas

Findings

The study’s findings highlight the importance of the two health communication journals and provide collection development insight. The study found that over half the citations to and from the two health communication journals were citations to the two journals, communication journals, or media journals, confirming the relationship between health communication and communication and media.

Regarding subject areas of journals cited by and to the two health communication journals, subject areas accounting for over half the citations included communication, medicine, and public health. This informs librarians which subjects outside of communication are important to health communication research. In addition, the subject “communication” ranked first from 1997-2022.

For journals that cite the two journals, both Health Communication and Journal of Health Communication appeared in the top five journals citing the two journals since 1997. Bradford zone 1 (core) for journals cited by the two health communication journals consists of Health Communication and Journal of Health Communication (27% of total citations). Bradford zones 1 and 2 consist of seven journals (52% of total citations): two health communication journals, Journal of Communication, Patient Education and Counseling, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and American Journal of Public Health.

Conclusion

Managing journal collections can be challenging. Patron demand and prices continue to increase while library budgets struggle to keep pace, making it difficult for librarians to maintain relevant and contemporary collections. The ranked list of cited journals and relevant subject areas provides insight for librarians who manage health communication collections. This information enables librarians to contribute to the field by appropriately allocating library budgets to the most cited journals, thereby ensuring that health communication researchers have access to essential resources. More specifically, the data indicate that by subscribing to the two health communication journals, libraries can provide access to more than 27% of the cited literature. If they have additional funds, subscribing to the next five journals on the list provides access to 52% of the cited literature.

As previously mentioned, health communication research is increasing rapidly. To ensure that collections remain relevant, it is advisable that citation analyses be conducted every few years. This process is feasible as it would only involve the two health communication journals and would not require a complete analysis of all the years but only those years not included in the previous analysis. Regular citation analyses will enable more informed collection development for a subject area that will most likely continue to grow in importance and relevancy.

References

[1] du Pré, Athena. 2017. Communicating About Health: Current Issues and Perspectives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[2] Kreps, Gary L. 2014. “Health Communication, History of.” In Encyclopedia of Health Communication, edited by Theresa L. Thompson. 567-572. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

[3] Thompson, Teresa L. 2014. “Introduction.” In Encyclopedia of Health Communication, edited by Theresa L. Thompson, 1-5, Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

[4] Kreps, Gary L. 2014. “Health Communication, History of.” In Encyclopedia of Health Communication, edited by Theresa L. Thompson. 567-572. Los Angeles, CA: Sage; Kreps, Gary L., Ellen W. Bonaguro, and Jim L. Query, Jr. 1998. “The History and Development of the Field of Health Communication.” In Health Communication Research: A Guide to Developments and Directions, edited by Lorraine D. Jackson and Bernard K. Duffy. 1-15. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; Cohen, Elisia L. 2022. “The Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, and Transdisciplinary Nature of Health Communication Scholarship.” In The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication, 3rd edition, edited by Theresa L. Thompson and Nancy Grant Harrington, 3-16. New York, NY: Routledge.

[5] Johnson, Peggy. 2014. Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, 321-323. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions; Nisonger, Thomas E. 1992. Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries, 97. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

[6] Lancaster, F. W., V. Gondek, S. McCowan, and C. Reese. 1991. “The Relationship Between Literature Scatter and Journal Accessibility in an Academic Special Library.” Collection Building 11 (1): 19-22; Sivers, Robert. 1987. “Partitioned Bradford Ranking and the Serials Problem in Academic Research Libraries.” Collection Building 8 (2): 12-19.

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