Quality in LIS Journals : The Search Continues

During the first half of 2000 a pilot project on library and information science (LIS) journal quality was undertaken in the Asian region for the IFLA Round Table on Library and Information Science Journals (RTLISJ). It showed that a simple but effective methodology could be used to determine the most commonly acepted criteria for evaluating LIS journal quality, the success or otherwise of LIS journals in meeting those criteria, and some critical factors that could improve the quality of those journals. The present project, developed on the basis of the pilot study, is examining a selective random sample of LIS journals from around the world to determine their quality using the criteria devised and tested in the pilot study. This paper reports on the findings to date, which are currently being completed and remain to be compared with the views of editors and editorial board members on the quality of their respective journals. Preliminary findings suggest that independent qualitative assessment of journal content does not match the perceptions of those intimately involved with controlling this content.