Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences 53 : 1 (Winter 2016) : 1-4 DOI:10.6120/JoEMLS.2016.531/editorial
EDITORIAL
In and Beyond This Issue
For this Issue 1, Volume 53 of Journal of Educational Media and Library
Sciences (JoEMLS), twelve manuscripts were reviewed during the publishing process. Four manuscripts were accepted and eight were rejected, with a rejection rate of 66.7%. Another seven manuscripts are still at the review process. Research papers published in this issue include “Applying Public History to Co-build the Digital Humanities Collaboration System of Tamsui’s Memory” by Sinn-Cheng Lin and Mei-Sheng Chen, “Functional Requirements of E-book Catalogs: From Perspectives of Library Users” by Meng-Chun Hsieh and Chao-Chen Chen, “A Study of the Relationship among Leader-member Exchange, Creative Self-eficacy and Innovative Behavior of the University Librarians” by Yu-Ping Peng, and “The Construction of Metadata for Open Government Data in Taiwan” by Li-Ling Ou and Tung-Mou Yang.
This new year of 2016 will be another important milestone for the development of academic journals in Taiwan. Let’s take a look at the history. In 2008 we for the irst time had an oficial ranking system for journals in the ield of library and information sciences, and journals had been categorized into three levels according to qualities—irst degree, second and third, respectively. Later we had another adjustment to label these four levels as A, B, C and D. However, from this year of 2016, there will be a major change regarding the journal ranking system in Taiwan charged by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). It is called “New Policy of Journal Ratings in Humanities and Social Sciences”, which announces a two-year (2016-2017) re-ranking of journals in Humanities and Social Sciences, and incorporation of the collection policies of THCI Core and TSSCI, for avoiding redundant and repeated applications for being collected into these databases. The major changes in this new policy include:
1. There are three levels of journal ranks. Journals rated as A and B levels are so called “core journals”, and will be collected into THCI and TSSCI.
2. Core Journals in Humanities are abbreviated as TCIcore-THCI; Core Journals in Social Sciences are called TCIcore-TSSCI.
3. The original list of journals collected into THCI Core and TSSCI will be effective till a new list is generated in 2016 and 2017.
2 Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences 53 : 1 (Winter 2016)
5. Journals of humanities and social sciences published in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore are eligible for applying for being collected into the database.
6. The frequency of journal publication should be at least once a year. At least three original academic papers should be published in each issue during the past three years. An average of three original academic papers for each issue of a year is also acceptable.
From the points summarized above, we can see it clear that when the MOST announced that “Core journals in social sciences are abbreviated as TSSCI”, this institution in charge of Taiwan academic development did misunderstand the natures and meanings of citation index and core journals. Although academic journal ranking is a necessary approach for deining “core journals”, the purpose for defining such core journals are still ambiguous. Is it for library collection development, journal publication, or for authors to submit manuscripts? Different goals involve different approaches and objectives of journal ranking. It is good to simplify redundant application procedures for being collected into the database, but if names of two tools with different natures are misunderstood and mixed up, and if it is open for free application from each academic journal, leaving each journal to decide if it would like to be rated and collected into the database, then such policy at discretion and indulgence will be a ly in the ointment.
To most scholars in humanities and social sciences, the new policy of journal ratings in humanities and social sciences would be a good news, because more journals of the irst and second levels could become honorably accredited TSSCI or THCI Core. However there is a problem to be addressed. How will universities and research institutes spend money on rewarding authors in these journals, or how they justify rewarding only those journals that are rated as the first level, that is, Level A? According to the New Policy of Journal Ranking In Humanities And Social Sciences, the maximum percentage of journals in each discipline (library and information science is in the education discipline) that could be collected into the database is 40, therefore all journals (including journals of library and information science) will face a major reshufling in the list of journals indexed into the database. This could be a great opportunity for those journals that have not been collected into the Citation Index, but for the ield of library and information science with a relatively low number of scholars and researchers, it is still not clear whether the following season is a thriving spring or a trembling winter?
Jeong-Yeou Chiu
教育資料與圖書館學 53 : 1 (Winter 2016) : 1-4
DOI:10.6120/JoEMLS.2016.531/editorial
編者言
本期紀要與展望
教育資料與圖書館學季刊53卷1期處理完成12篇稿件 ，收錄其中4篇稿件 ，
退稿篇數8篇 ，退稿率仍維持在66.7%。截至此卷期出刊前 ，仍約有另外7篇稿
件留待評閱編校。在此一卷期獲評閱者青睞而收錄的研究論文 ，分別為：林信 成與陳美聖撰述「應用大眾史學共建淡水記憶之數位人文協作系統」一文 、謝孟 君與陳昭珍探討「從使用者觀點探討大學圖書館電子書目錄之功能需求」、彭于 萍針對「大學圖書館館員之領導者-成員交換關係 、創意自我效能與館員創新行
為之關係模式探析」；以及歐俐伶與楊東謀對於「台灣政府開放資料之詮釋資料 建置探討」等四篇大作。
在這新的一年中 ，2016年將是台灣學術期刊發展的另一個里程碑。回顧 2008年台灣首次就圖書資訊學相關期刊進行官方評比制度 ，依品質依序形成了
一級 、二級 、三級等三種不同等級的期刊類別；爾後又歷經另一次的期刊排序 評比 ，但排序名稱則改為A、B、C、D等四種類別。然而 ，從今年（2016年）
開始 ，這些由科技部所主導的期刊評比將有重大變革 ，一般將其稱為「人社期 刊評比收錄新制」，將以兩年的時間（2016-2017）針對所有人文與社會學期刊重
新評比 ，並整併先前台灣引文索引資料庫（TSSCI、THCI Core）收錄審核 ，以
及歷次的期刊評比制度 ，將此二制度結合 ，也省卻了重複的收錄申請作業。此 「人社期刊評比收錄新制」主要改變約略有：
1.期刊評比分成三等級。受評為第A級與第B級者即為「核心期刊」並收錄
於THCI與TSSCI。
2.人文學核心期刊簡稱為THCI（TCIcore-THCI）；社會科學核心期刊簡稱
為TSSCI（TCIcore-TSSCI）。
3.原2015年公佈之THCI Core與TSSCI名單 ，將沿用至2016年新制名單產
生為止。
4.各學門評比每兩年一次。仍採申請制 ，圖資學歸屬於「教育學門」。 5.此新制期刊申請對象包括：台 、港 、澳 、新加坡之人社領域學術期刊。 6.出刊頻率至少為一年 ，近三年每期出刊至少三篇原創學術論文 ，可每年
各期平均三篇。
由以上重點摘錄 ，我們發現：當科技部宣告「社會科學核心期刊簡稱
TSSCI」？！主管我國學術發展主管機關的科技部 ，顯然還是混淆引文索引
（Citation index）與核心期刊（Core journal）的本質與意義。雖然學術期刊評鑑已
4 教育資料與圖書館學 53 : 1 (Winter 2016)
簡化重複的期刊收錄申請作業是一件好事 ，但將本質不同的兩種工具名稱混為 一談 ，並採自由申請制 ，任由各個台灣學術期刊自行決定接受評比和收錄與 否 ，這些過於便宜行事和放任的作為 ，實為美中不足之事。
「人社期刊評比收錄新制」對絕大部分的人文社會學學者而言都是「好消 息」，因為會有更多的一與二級期刊都將變成昔日可獲獎勵的TSSCI或THCI Core期刊 ，屆時大學與研究機構如何花大錢獎勵 ，或逼使這些研究機構只獎勵
一級（A）期刊？但依據「人社期刊評比收錄新制」規定 ，凡屬一級期刊每年的
收錄分配額度可達「學門」（注意：圖資學屬於教育學門）的40%，因此所有的
學術期刊（包括圖資學門期刊）將面臨一次大洗牌 ，顯然這也是尚未成為「引 文索引」期刊收錄者的大好機會。只是學術人口不多卻有眾多期刊的圖資學而 言 ，明年起台灣的圖資學門期刊不曉得是春天來了？還是令人發顫的寒冬？
邱 炯友
