The Citation Analysis of Asia Social Issues Journal as Indexed in International Databases
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Abstract
Background and Objectives: Journal citation analysis is a method used to study the frequency of usage of various types of publications that are cited in footnotes, reference lists, or bibliographies through statistical methods. It is based on citation counts, which quantifies the number of times a publication is mentioned or cited to determine the volume of usage of journals across different databases. This method can be used to assess the significance of a journal. It is beneficial to the editorial board of a journal, as it provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of academic journal management. Additionally, it serves as a reference index, indicating the impacts of research articles and benefits to the global research community. It represents an accepted form of peer acknowledgment from scholars and research groups within the same field. Given its importance, the researcher intends to study the status of the articles in Asia Social Issues, a journal of Walailak University, as well as analyze article citations in the Scopus database. This will provide valuable information to management or the editorial board, enabling them to plan and support the development of Asia Social Issues, by selecting the fields of articles and high-quality articles to increase citations and secure ranking in international databases. The objectives of this study are (1) to study and evaluate the quality of the articles in Asia Social Issues, by examining article citations in Scopus, and (2) to compare the details of citing articles in various aspects, including publication type (category), journal quartile score, and the authors’ affiliations (The affiliation of authors), in order to analyze the content of the articles from the journal, which have been cited in the Scopus database.
Methods: This study conducts a citation analysis of Asia Social Issues, a journal published by Walailak University. The analysis examines the number of citations of 277 articles published between 2013 and 2024. The citation data were retrieved from the Scopus database, focusing on the following attributes: article ID, publication year, author country, categories, cited years, and source, respectively. Additionally, information on the citing articles, including publisher’s name, category, quartile, percentile, and country, was also collected. The collected data were subsequently analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis was divided into two main sections: (1) citation analysis of the articles from Asia Social Issues in the Scopus database, focusing on the age of the cited articles (article age) and content analysis, respectively, and (2) analysis of the citing articles of Asia Social Issues Journal, focusing on the category and quality of the journals (category and journal quartile score) and the countries of the authors (author country), respectively.
Results: The findings revealed that out of 227 articles, 114 articles had been cited (41.16%). The most frequently cited articles were two years old, cited 54 times (47.37%). The most cited subject area was management, with 73 citations (64.04%). Regarding citing articles, most citations (88 times, 77.19%) were from academic journals. The highest number of citations was found in Q1 journals (39 times, 34.21%). In terms of author nationality, Thai authors contributed 35 citations (30.70%), while international authors contributed 79 citations (69.30%) across five continents. The highest number of citations came from Asia (57 times, 50.00%), followed by Europe (13 times, 11.40%), North America (5 times, 4.39%), and Africa (3 times, 2.63%), respectively. The lowest number of citations was from South America (1 time, 0.88%).
Application of this study: Journal citation analysis provides significant benefits to editorial boards by identifying strengths and weaknesses in the management of academic journals. It serves as background information for enhancing article screening processes for publication and defining target audiences for journal promotion, since citations frequency reflect researchers’ need for the information.
Conclusions: Based on the citation analysis of the Asia Social Issues Journal at Walailak University, the editorial board should consider expanding article submissions in the subject areas of management, education, sociology and anthropology, cultural studies, political sciences, and psychology, respectively. Additionally, efforts should be made to enhance the dissemination of the published articles to researchers in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, respectively to increase the number of citations in publications indexed in international databases in the future.
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