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The Evaluation of History Journals and Historians in Taiwan Based on the Citation Analysis of the First-Class History JournalsKeywords: History , History journals , Research evaluation , Bibliometrics , Citation analysis Abstract: This study used citation analysis method to evaluate the historyjournals and historians in Taiwan. Citation data were drawn fromsix history journals defined by the National Science Council as thefirst-class journals. Statistical analysis revealed that the ranking ofhistory journals by ciations of the first-class journals was significantlycorrelated to the ranking in Taiwan Humanities Citation Index (THCI).This suggests that the first-class journals alone were able to serve asa rather representive sample for journal impact analyses in historyand humanities studies in Taiwan. Citation analysis also showed thatjournals published in Taiwan and China had nearly equal impact onTaiwan’s history research. Further, the citation of English journals inTaiwan’s history journals was inconsistent with the Journal CitationReports’ (JCR) ranking by impact factor. The finding indicates that JCRjournals did not necessarily have more influences on historical studiesin Taiwan. In addition, historians tended to cite Chinese languagematerials, especially books published before 1912. For historianevaluation, analyses revealed that outstanding historians (defined byhaving received any of three academic honors and awards) and ordinaryhistorians were cited differently both in the first-class history journalsand in THCI, and the differences achieved statistical significance.This suggests that citation analysis is applicable to the evaluation ofhistorians in Taiwan, although cautions must be taken in interpreting thedata and findings.
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