Quality indicators for scientific journals based on experts opinion

Abstract: This paper presents the results and further development of a survey sent to 11,799 Spanish faculty members and researchers from various fields of the social sciences and the humanities, obtaining a total of 45.6% (5,368 responses) usable answers. Respondents were asked (a) to indicate the three most important journals in their field and (b) to rate them on a 0-10 scale according to their quality. The information obtained has been synthesized in two indicators which reflect the perceived quality of journals. Once the values were obtained, the journals were categorized according to each indicator and the ordinal positions were compared. Different profiles of journals are analyzed in connection with experts opinion, such as regional orientation, and the consensus among researchers is studied. Finally, the possibilities of extending the research and indicators to sets of international journals are explored.