Bibliometric analysis of psychotherapy research: performance assessment and position in the journal landscape

Abstract

The authors provide an overview of advanced bibliometric methods for (a) an objective and transparent assessment of journal performance and (b) positioning of a journal in relation to other journals. These methods are applied to Psychotherapy Research, an international journal within the field of clinical psychology. In the first analysis, the authors focus on journal performance in an international comparative perspective (i.e., the performance of the journal in relation to all other journals in the same field of science) and introduce a novel type of journal impact factor. In the second analysis, the authors position the journal on the basis of total citation relations among all relevant journals, including those outside the specific field of science to which the journal belongs. A multitude of interdisciplinary relations between the journal under investigation and many other journals is revealed. The investigators discuss briefly the potential of such a "journal citation mapping" for unraveling interdisciplinary developments and "interfaces" between different fields of science.