SCIMAGO QUARTILE RANKINGS OF LIS JOURNALS
TRANSFORMATIONS OVER 20 YEARS
Keywords:
scholarly communication, journals, bibliographic databasesAbstract
This study aims to analyze the development of Library and Information Science (LIS) journals over a 20-year period. It is an exploratory, descriptive, mixed-methods study based on bibliographic and documentary data collection procedures. LIS journals were retrieved from the SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SCImago) database for the period 2006–2025. Some analyses were based exclusively on the rankings for 2006, 2016, and 2025. In 2006, the SCImago ranking included 182 LIS journal titles; by 2025, this number had increased to 285. Subscription-based journals remained predominant, although the number of open access titles grew during the period. Journals indexed in 2006 migrated across different quartiles in 2016 and 2025. Quartile 1 showed the highest retention of titles within the same tier over time (n = 30 in 2016 and n = 28 in 2025). In the remaining quartiles, greater movement between tiers was observed in subsequent years. Regarding journal discontinuation from the database, considering the 2006 ranking as a baseline, 19 titles had been discontinued by 2016 and 34 by 2025. From a 20-year perspective, the findings indicate that journals in SCImago frequently move across quartiles, and titles that once occupied top-ranking positions may be downgraded to lower quartiles in subsequent years. Although journal discontinuation rates are relatively low, they occur consistently over time.