Revista Profile Vol. 20 No. 1

After a long period of debates and communications from academic groups involved in the production of journals in Colombia, Colciencias published its latest classification of academic journals based on the criteria established in its latest policies (Colciencias, 2016a, 2016b). Colciencias, the Colombian research agency in charge of the classification of the scientific journals edited within the country, ran the model announced in such policies and the results produced different reactions. For some scholars, those results were not surprising for the main parameters are in tune with international trends, that is, the recognition of quality in scientific or academic journals according to measurements established by prestigious databases and indexing systems (the jcr–Journal Citation Reports, led by Thomson or the sjr–Scimago Journal Ranking, managed by Scopus). For others, and as pointed out in our latest edition (Cárdenas & Nieto Cruz, 2017), there is a heavy reliance on number of citations made about or of articles as a means to quantify journals and researchers’ impact.

The service [Google Scholar Metrics–gsm] can offer a better alternative than the traditional Google Scholar service to discover and judge the standing of journals through the prism of their citedness. gsm could become a potentially useful complementary resource primarily by virtue of its brand recognition, and the convenience of not requiring the installation of additional software, but currently its bibliometric indicators are often inappropriate for decision making in matters of tenure, promotion, grants and accreditation. (Jacsó, 2012, p. 604)