Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)

KÖNYVTÁR ÉS KORSZERŰSÉG – LIBRARY AND MODERNITY

Braun T. - Schubert A. - Zsindely S. a period to represent properly the real scientific performance of the editors-inchief. To check this hypothesis, the citation rate of a subsample of 267 editorsin-chief (those having 6 to 15 cited papers in the 1981-1985 period) was searched also in the 1970-1974 period (1970-1974 citations to 1970-1974 papers). Surprisingly, the average was only insignificantly higher in the earlier period, namely, 3.10 citations/cited paper in the 1970-1974 period, 2.84 citations/cited paper in the 1981-1985 period. This difference does not account for the observed underperformance of the editors-in-chief in their citation level. We are inclined to think that editing a scientific journal requires qualities somewhat different from those of a prolific and highly cited author. Although most of the editors under study were active as publishing scientists and were also cited in the period in question, their influence seems to be shorter range, presumably more personal in nature, and their authority domains are more limited. We even suspect that the same qualities that make someone an eminent editorin-chief (strong personal influence, ability to make quick, intuitive decisions, and so on) may prevent him or her from being a universally acknowledged highly cited scientist. Of course, the most fortunate cases are those in which the two sets of qualities coincide, but this is the exception rather than the rule. References 1. S. Zsindely, A. Schubert, T. Braun. Scientometrics, 4 (1982) 57. 2. T. Braun, W. Glänzet, A. Schubert: Scientometric indicators. World Scientific Publ. Co., Ltd., Singapore, 1985. 3. R. Roy, N.R. Roy, G.G. Johnson Jr. Scientometrics, 4 (1983) 411. 4. S. Zsindely, A Schubert. Communication Research, 16 (1989) 695. 120 Thoughts in the library "