An Analysis of Seven Literacy Journals: Comparing the Content of Higher Impact and Lower Impact Journals

• In Event: 29.082 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.082-21 - Research in Reading and Literacy SIG Roundtable

Abstract

For better or worse, the primary measure of success in academia is publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Given the fractious past of literacy research (i.e., phonics vs. whole language and quantitative vs. qualitative), we investigated whether there were differences in the topics, theoretical perspectives, designs, and data sources represented in seven literacy research journals. We classified these journals based on their Thomson Reuters impact factor and found that there were significant and meaningful differences between what is published in literacy journals with impact factors above and below 1. We discuss possible reasons for and implications of these differences.

Authors

• Seth A. Parsons, George Mason University

• Melissa A. Gallagher, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Erin Marie Ramirez, California State University - Monterey Bay

• Allison Ward Parsons, George Mason University

• Nisreen Daoud, George Mason University

• Alicia Kay Bruyning, George Mason University

• Lesley King, George Mason University

• Susan V. Groundwater, George Mason University