ABSTRACT: I reference Meltzer's valuable list of journals that
publish physics/astronomy education research articles. I then discuss
the Thomson Corporation's (evidently sometimes deficient) "Web of
Science"; "Web of Knowledge"; and citation indices for science,
social science, and arts and humanities; and their connection to
Eugene Garfield's "Science Citation Index." In connection with
citations, I mention the "Matthew Effect," the exemplary "Teaching in
the Disciplines" site at McGill, and the free citation searches
afforded by Google.
If you object to cross-posting as a way to tunnel through inter- and
intra-disciplinary barriers or have no interest in citations, please
hit "delete" now. And if you respond to this long (17 kB) post,
please don't hit the reply button unless you prune the original
message normally contained in your reply down to a few lines,
otherwise you may inflict this entire post yet again on suffering
list subscribers.
In his PhysLrnR post of 26 May 2005 titled "journal list, typos
corrected," David Meltzer (2005) wrote [bracketed by lines
"MMMMMMMMMMMM. . . "; my insertions at "[. . . . ]" ]:
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I have compiled a list of 59 journals in which U.S.-based researchers
in physics and astronomy education have published since January 1999.
The list is given below.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A-B
*Academic Exchange Quarterly
Advances in Space Research
American Educational Research Journal
American Journal of Physics
*ASEE PRISM
Astrobiology
*Astronomy Education Review
BioScience
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Note that journals marked with an asterisk (*). . . .[29 in number,
49% of the total !!]. . . are NOT indexed on the . . . [SADLY
DEFICIENT]. . . ISI Web of Science database. (The Web of Science
includes the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index,
and Arts and Humanities Citation Index.)
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
For the *complete* list of journals publishing physics/astronomy
education research articles see Meltzer (2005) - because the archives
of PhysLrnR are CLOSED to non-subscribers :-( I hope David, in the
interest of reducing the insularity of education research [Hake
(2005)], will place the list at his website, as he generously did for
his previous valuable list of physics education research websites
[Meltzer 2004)].
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Thomson ISI, a business of The Thomson Corporation, has been an
established leader in providing access to high-value, essential
information for researchers and scholars worldwide for over 45 years.
The goal of ISI is to increase the impact of research by empowering
researchers to accelerate discovery. ISI provides integrated
information solutions delivered by the most innovative technologies.
We partner with our clients, as well as industry leaders to deliver
on this promise.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We are known for the development of cited reference searching within
"Web of Science" - the multidisciplinary collection of bibliographic
information from over 8,600 evaluated scholarly journals. The
information captured about each article includes the article's cited
reference list (bibliography), allowing users to search for articles
that cite a known author or work. Cited reference searching is unique
to ISI, providing effortless navigation backward, forward, and
through literature regardless of publication dates, country of
origin, or disciplines.
[Thomson ISI's most recent development is] the "ISI Web of Knowledge"
. . . [<http://isiwebofknowledge.com/index.html>]. . . the single
environment from which researchers can access, analyze, and manage
information. [It] facilitates discovery by offering seamless
navigation to the highest quality content, evaluation tools, and
bibliographic management products. The platform provides innovative
search tools for cross-content and Web document searching, and is
equipped with a sophisticated, robust linking gateway. The ISI Web of
Knowledge content is multidisciplinary, and supports research
conducted at academic, corporate, government, and not-for-profit
organizations worldwide.
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The blurb at <http://isiwebofknowledge.com/index.html> states:
"Selective. Objective. Reliable. Fifty years after Eugene Garfield
began collecting and indexing research data and forty years after the
'Science Citation Index' was first published, 'ISI Web of Knowledge'
continues the tradition of unquestioned quality. This unique, fully
integrated research environment delivers a powerful combination of
content, tools, and technology that help researchers quickly and
easily discover the essential research data they seek - *clearing the
path for smart discovery*."
[One problem with citation counts derives from the "Matthew effect" -
the tendency for scientists - seeking to promote their own fame - to
cite famous scientists more frequently than less famous scientists,
with the result that famous scientists become even more famous and
less-famous scientists become even less famous. The term was
evidently coined by sociologist of science Robert Merton (1973) and
is from the Bible: "To him who hath it shall be given, and from him
who hath not it shall be taken away, even that which he hath." For a
recent comment on the "Matthew effect" see Mermin (2005).]
The cost of institutional or private subscriptions to the:
appear to be hidden at the above websites, perhaps because they're
outrageously high, but might be uncovered by diligent searches of
links at those sites.
BTW:
1. Rough (but free) citation searches are also possible at Google.
For example, to obtain citations for McDermott & Redish (1999),
search "Resource letter on physics education research" (with the
quotes) to obtain, as of today, 27 May 2005: 59 hits on plain old
Google <http://www.google.com/> and
21 hits on the beta Google scholar <http://scholar.google.com>.
Searching the latter hits will uncover other hits to McDermott &
Redish (1999).
2. I thank reference connoisseur Meltzer for alerting me to the
excellent site "Teaching in the Disciplines" [McGill (2005)].
The culture of science includes the continual interaction, exchange,
evaluation, and criticism we make of each other's views. This
produces a kind of emergent phenomenon I refer to as a *community
consensus knowledge base* or more briefly, a *community map.*
Joe Redish (1999)
"It is not enough to observe, experiment, theorize, calculate and
communicate; we must also argue, criticize, debate, expound,
summarize, and otherwise transform the information that we have
obtained individually into reliable, well established, public
knowledge."
John Ziman. 1969. "Information, Communication, Knowledge," Nature 224
(5217): 324.
McGill. 2005. "Teaching in the Disciplines" online at
<http://www.tomlinsonproject.mcgill.ca/teach_resources.htm>. Thus far
only chemistry and physics are addressed; but biology, mathematics,
and psychology are under construction.
Meltzer, D. 2005. "journal list, typos corrected," PhysLrnR post of
26 May 2005 22:09:52-0500; online at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0505&L=physlrnr&O=D&X=176D97023DB209956B&Y=rrhake@earthlink.net&P=7199>.
The encyclopedic URL indicates that PhysLrnR is one of the few
discussion lists that denies archive access to non-subscribers - WHY
??.. However, it takes only a few minutes to subscribe by following
the simple directions at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html> / "Join or
leave the list (or change settings)" where "/" means "click on." If
you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under
"Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives
and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the
list!
Merton, R.K. 1973. "The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and
Empirical Investigations." Univ. of Chicago Press, Section 20, "The
Matthew Effect in Science."