Bibliometrics and the study of religion\s¹

Figures & data

Table 1. Country of origin of published documents (by corresponding author) in selected journals by percentage (showing only country and mean values of 1 percent or over).

	ASSR	HR	JAAR	JCR	JRE	JRH	JSSR	MTSR	Rel	RHE	RS	SCom	SocR	SR	Zyg	Mean
Argentina		1.4															Argentina
Australia				5.8	1.1	4.7	1.7		1.2	1.9	3.6			1.3	1.2	1.7	Australia
Austria																	Austria
Belgium	2.3	1.4		1.8			1.3	1.5				7.7	1.0			2.4	Belgium
Brazil	1.4					1.1						3.9					Brazil
Canada	4.5	5.6	6.4	6.7	3.0	3.3	3.4	10.9	9.1	1.9	7.2	8.1	8.1	79.3	3.0	10.0	Canada
Chile												2.5					Chile
Denmark		1.4		2.1				5.6	2.2							1	Denmark
Finland				2.1				2.3	1.5			1.9					Finland
France	57	2.8						2.6		26		24.9	1.0			7.2	France
Germany	2.8	2.8	1.1	1.2		1.2		3.8	3.7	2.6		5.6			1.3	2.1	Germany
Greece																	Greece
Hong Kong					1.5								1.0				Hong Kong
Israel		1.4		2.5		2.5			1.5		2.0		2.0				Israel
Iran						2.2											Iran
Italy	3.9	1.4		2.1					1.0	6.5		7.3			1.2	1.6	Italy
Japan				1.2													Japan
Malaysia				1.2													Malaysia
Morocco												1.7					Morocco
Netherlands	1.1	1.4		4.6			2.2	1.9	3.7	1.9	1.6	4.1			3.3	2.1	Netherlands
Norway				1.8				1.5	4.2							1.4	Norway
N. Zealand		1.4						1.1	1.2		1.0						N. Zealand
Poland										1.3		1.9					Poland
Slovenia																	Slovenia
S. Africa						1.5		1.1		1.3							S. Africa
S. Korea		1.4															S. Korea
Spain		2.8								1.3		2.7					Spain
Sweden				1.5		1.1			1.0								Sweden
Switzerland	3.4	5.6										3.7				1.1	Switzerland
Turkey		1.4															Turkey
UK	1.4		5.9	50.9	3.8	3.4	4.9	7.1	21.4		23.7	9.8	4.1	1.7	8.8	9.7	UK
USA	2.3	67.6	82.3	14.1	85.6	74.0	81.1	59.0	47.0	7.7	57.1	14.3	78.7	14.3	76.3	50.0	USA

Source: Scopus data.

Table 2. Range and mean h5-indices for the 20 ‘top publications’ in selected languages, in descending order by mean.

Language	Range	Mean
English	153–349	202.3
Chinese	29–54	33.6
Portuguese	19–38	24.5
Spanish	15–28	18.8
German	13–22	15.9
French	10–18	12.1
Italian	6–10	7.1
Japanese	6–9	6.8
Dutch	4–10	5.0

Note: The h5-index is a number x such that x articles in the journal have been cited at least × times during the last five years.

Source: Google Scholar, http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en (Accessed 8 February 2014).

Table 3. Publications in selected SoR journals by type (2011–2013). Columns of Scopus data indicated by ‘(Sco)’.

	C&R	C&R (Sco)	HR	HR (Sco)	MTSR	MTSR (Sco)	Num	Num (Sco)	Rel	Rel (Sco)
2011
Art	25	21	12		19	11	20	20	34	30
Rev		3		13		7				6
Ed	1		2	1			1	1	5	1
TOT	26	24	14	14	19	19	21	21	39	38
2012
Art	25	14	15	2	30	20	21	19	31	18
Rev		7		11		12		3
Ed	3	1			4	2	1		5
TOT	28	28	15	13	34	34	22	22	36	19
2013
Art	26	25	13	8	36	4	21	19	27	24
Rev		3		6		10		1		4
Ed	3				2	1	1	1	4	3
TOT	29	30	13	14	38	15	22	21	31	32
TOT
Art	82	60	40	10	85	35	62	58	92	72
Rev		13		30		29		4		10
Ed	1	1	2		6	3	3	2	14	4
TOTAL	83	82	42	40	91	68	66	65	106	89
% diff.	1.2		4.8		25.3		1.5		16.0

Note: ‘Art’ = articles; ‘Rev’ = reviews; ‘Ed’ = editorials. ‘C&R’ = Culture and Religion; ‘HR’ = History of Religions; ‘MTSR’ = Method and Theory in the Study of Religion; ‘Num’ = Numen; ‘Rel’ = Religion. ‘TOT’ and ‘TOTAL’ figures for Scopus are total document numbers for each journal for each year and the sum of these over the three years, not the sub-total of the document types listed here (Art, Rev, Ed). That is, these Scopus figures include other document types (e.g., ‘Notes’ and ‘Conference Papers’). The ‘% diff.’ row is the difference between the two counts expressed as a percentage of the larger, i.e., the proportion of items from our manual count that is missing in the Scopus data. Introductory essays to special issues and review symposia were counted as editorials (publishers’ notes were not). Review essays, contributions to special issues, review symposia, and responses to the latter were counted as articles. Scopus does not index book reviews, so the ‘Rev’ counts for Scopus presumably count review essays and contributions to review symposia. As per our count, the numbers of book reviews published in each journal over the three years are as follows: C&R (36); HR (76); MTSR (2); Num (75); Rel (112).

Source: Scopus data (Accessed 8 February 2014).

Table 4. Documents by type in selected journals 1996–2013, arranged by total number of items in descending order.

Journal	Art	Art (%)	Rev	Rev (%)	Ed	Ed (%)	Total
JRH	619	64.1	121	12.5	49	5.1	965
Zyg	789	85.5	18	2.0	61	6.6	923
JSSR	544	84.6	43	6.7	37	5.8	643
SCom	463	73.7	94	15	30	4.8	628
JAAR	289	49.3	203	34.6	18	3.2	586
RS	393	21.3	393	73.6	4	0.7	534
JRE	272	51.8	190	36.2	9	1.7	525
Rel	346	81.0	46	10.8	13	3.0	427
MTSR	226	56.6	115	28.8	14	3.5	399
JCR	273	74.8	84	23.0	0	0	365
ASSR	132	37.2	205	57.7	11	3.1	355
SocR	239	75.2	52	16.4	11	3.5	318
SR	172	64.9	74	27.9	11	4.2	265
HR	66	33.8	127	65.1	2	1.0	195

Note: * See appendix for journal title abbreviations. ‘Art’ = articles; ‘Rev’ = reviews; ‘Ed’ = editorials. The % columns give the percentage of each of these three types of document relative to the total number of documents published in the period (‘Total’). The ‘Total’ includes additional materials, including letters, notes, conference papers, surveys, errata, etc.

Source: Scopus data

Table 5. Citation rankings of selected journals

Journal	h5	h	Journal	h5	h	Journal	h5	h
JSSR	24	36	JAAR	10	12	JREu	5	4
MHRC	17	21	MTSR	8	10	IR	5	2
IJPR	15	12	JCR	7	14	NR	5	2
SocR	14	23	C&R	7	4	JR	4	7
Rel	12	14	JRA	6	12	SR	4	3
SCom	10	13	JRE	6	4	HR	3	10
Zyg	10	13	Num	5	5

Note: See appendix for journal-title abbreviations

Source: h5-index from Google Scholar; h-index from Scopus

Table 6. Range and mean h5-indices for the 20 ‘top publications’ in selected disciplines, in descending order by mean.

Discipline	Range	Mean
Biochemistry	63–156	81.5
Astronomy & Astrophysics	40–149	75.0
Finance	31–111	48.7
Cognitive Science	28–83	43.6
Law	27–41	32.4
Sociology	29–45	31.2
Language & Linguistics	16–40	23.8
Anthropology	15–39	22.6
Philosophy	14–29	18.2
Gender Studies	10–31	16.4
Religion	7–24	10.5
History	8–23	9.9
English Language & Lit.	5–21	9.5
Film	4–10	5.3

Note: The ‘top’ 20 in the ‘Religion’ category are: JSSR, MHRC, JRH, IJPR, SocR, Rel, SCom, British J. of Rel. Ed., JAAR, Zyg, J. of Psych. & Theol., Pastoral Psych., J. of Beliefs & Values, MTSR, Rev. of Rel. Research, Rel., State & Soc., Religions, Int. J. of Children's Spirituality, C&R, J. for the Study of Rel. & Ideologies. See Appendix for abbreviations.

Source: Google Scholar data, http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en (Accessed 8 February 2014).