Development of a Tollkit for evaluating scholarly journals' website

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Today, with the increase in the number of journals and the field of publishing competition, journals are trying to provide effective services to writers and readers by using new information technologies, online systems and websites. Aim:The purpose of this study is to provide tools for evaluating the website of scientific and research journals. Materials and Methods: The present study is an applied, descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected by reviewing the texts. The study population is 123 multidisciplinary Scopus journals that were in the Scimgo website until 2017. The criteria obtained from reviewing the texts were integrated with the criteria extracted from the Simgo journals website and the primary tool was created. Expert opinions were evaluated. Then, the website of 89 journals, based on Iranian quarters and magazines in Simgo, was evaluated with the obtained tools from the two perspectives of general website and article presentation page, and data analysis was performed using chi-square test in soft SPSS software version 19 was performed. Results: By reviewing the texts, 25 criteria were extracted and by reviewing the website of 89 Scimgo multilingual journals, a tool with 64 criteria was created and categorized into 13 concepts. According to experts, the final instrument was formed in 58 criteria and 12 concepts. Based on this evaluation, 34 criteria were present in more than 50% of the quarters as basic criteria. Conclusion: Journals can improve their website by using this tool