Editorial Comment: From Our October 2007 Editorial Board Meeting
Following is data that was presented during the last editorial meeting.
Figure 1 represents the number of people who view the journal's Web page. For the past four years, we have seen this ascending and descending pattern. Subscribers and other interested parties will review the journal soon after an issue is published. After the journal has been online for a while, we see fewer visits. During the summers, we note the biggest drop in home page visits. Clearly, this is attributed to fewer courses being taught during the summer. The pattern suggests that students and faculty are using the journal during the academic year. If this is true, it means that The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics is being used by faculty and students. Since the journal is abstracted in Social Service Abstracts (published by ProQuest) and Social Work Abstracts (published by the National Association of Social Workers), as the journal becomes older, we will witness greater growth.
Electronic abstracts often lead the researcher directly to a specific article rather than the journal's home page. Visits directly to articles is commonly twice the frequency of visits to the home page. From January 2007 to September 2007, we have a range of 19,017 to 8,475, with a mean of 13,982. Direct clicks to articles fall into 6-digit numbers except in the summer. In July and August of 2007, we have the lowest number of direct clicks to articles (8,475 and 8,918 respectively).
Figure 2 represents our subscription rates.
Our subscription rates do not follow a seasonal trend, but illustrate slow growth. The subscription rates also suggest that social workers have a growing interest in values and ethics. Based on experience with other journals, we felt that a subscription rate of 600 would be very good. Thus, the entire editorial board is delighted by the interest in our work!
Stephen M. Marson, Ph.D.
Senior Editor
Linda Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSW
Publisher, White Hat Communications