Wednesday, December 31, 2014

JSER new web design and upgrade to Joomla 2.5 version

Dear readers, dear friends, respected colleagues,
I want to announce that from today JSER has new web design in Joomla 2.5. It has better functionality. You can find there hot to cite our articles. There are lot of new share buttons. Also now you can see two columns, and other changes. We (myself and web administrator Mr. Gjorgji Pop-Gjorgjiev) work very hard in last four months. Big thanks to our web administrator Gjorgji Pop-Gjorgjiev for his tremendous work and valuable help.We still have to improve some things in the following period, but I hope that we done great work for 2014. You can see all changes at: http://jser.fzf.ukim.edu.mk
Cheers,
JSER editor-in-chief

Sunday, December 28, 2014

How to Write Up Your Research Plan?

Writing up your research plan will help you to clarify your own goals. A solid, well-written research plan can also generate essential support for your ambitions from colleagues and potential future employers.
For all these reasons it’s important that your plan is compelling, readable and above all believable.
BE PERSUASIVE
Lots of people seek research funds. Why is your project important, even for those who are more interested in other projects?
  • - Your ideas must be your own and they must have substance.
  • - To be convincing you need to tell a specific, detailed and authoritative story. Don’t just say you want to eradicate world hunger, for example, but identify a particular focus such as the development of non-toxic pest and disease management strategies in order to encourage local, organic farming. Provide evidence to remind your reader why this issue is important for everybody, not just academics, and why it needs attention now.
What you want to inspire is a solid, believable vision of the wide-reaching impact of your research. Be careful however, as unsubstantiated hype will damage your credibility. Write well, but rely on the persuasive power of logic and evidence.
ENGAGE YOUR READER
  • - Include a clear and concise overview summary at the start to help orientate your reader.
  • - Focus on the project rather than yourself
  • - If you can’t write well get an editor.
  • - You must avoid obvious mistakes like typing errors.
  • - Your layout must be clear and include appealing images.
INSPIRE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR RESEARCH
  • - Gain feedback from colleagues to ensure that both your goals and your methodology are achievable.
  • - Your ability to achieve these goals will be more convincing if you can also show that you already have some authority in the field. Beyond publications and some independence in your research track record this includes knowledge of the current state of the field and the inclusion of preliminary data that supports your thesis.
  • - Show that you have all bases covered by including alternative, back up approaches that you can call upon if your research fails to achieve the results that you expect.
Your plan will need to be at least 3 pages long, including references. Some disciplines recommend longer, up to 12 pages if you include related sub-proposals for alternate research strategies. Research your disciplinary requirements and tailor your proposal accordingly.

Source: http://www.enago.com/blog/

Saturday, December 27, 2014

JSER article cited in Journal of Attention Disorders impact factor journal

Dear readers,
It is my pleasure to inform you that JSER article has been cited in Journal of Attention Disorders which is impact factor journal. Impact Factor:2.397 | Ranking: Psychology, Developmental 23 out of 65 | Psychiatry (SSCI) 42 out of 124 | Psychiatry (SCI) 62 out of 136.
Langher, V., Ricci, M. E., Reversi, S., & Krstikj, N. (2009). ADHD and loneliness social dissatisfaction in inclusive school from an individual-context paradigm. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 10(3-4), 67-88 has been cited in Paweł Grygiel, Grzegorz Humenny, Sławomir Rębisz, Elżbieta Bajcar, Piotr Świtaj. Peer Rejection and Perceived Quality of Relations With Schoolmates Among Children With ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders.

Abstract

Objective: The main aim of the current study was to investigate the links between ADHD diagnosis and the objective and subjective dimensions of social relationships among children from primary schools. Method: We used the data from 36 regular classrooms, consisting of 718 students, with each containing at least one child with an established clinical diagnosis of ADHD (38 children). Results: For children with ADHD, the level of the perceived quality of social relations was lower than that of children without such a diagnosis. After controlling for sociometric status, the impact of ADHD on perceived status proved to be statistically nonsignificant but the indirect impact of ADHD on this status through sociometric status was statistically significant. Conclusion: Children diagnosed with ADHD are more often rejected by their peers and have a more pessimistic view of their social world. Moreover, ADHD diagnosis does not have a direct influence on the perceived quality of social relations otherwise than through sociometric status.


Monday, November 24, 2014

JSER in ReadCube

Dear readers,
I received an email from our DeGruyter contact who inform me that JSER is included in ReadCube.
ReadCube was started by a researcher and a computer scientist to address the challenges faced by scientists. What started in a Harvard College dorm room as a tool to help organize and find scientific papers quickly turned into something rather more.
ReadCube’s team of scientists and researchers now spans two continents and is backed by Digital Science, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd and a sister company of Nature Publishing Group. As ReadCube continues to grow and innovate useful new features, we hope it will help scientists all over the world stay on top of — and spur — scientific progress in their fields.
JSER editor-in-chief

Friday, November 21, 2014

JSER cited in dissertation from Portugal

Dear readers,
JSER is cited in one dissertation from Portugal.The paper is O recurso a animais nas intervenções em crianças com perturbações do espetro do Autismo by F Magalhães - 2014.
The author cited JSER paper in reference number 55. Memishevikj H, & Hodzhikj, S. (2010). The effects of equineassisted therapy in improving the psychosocial functioning of children with autism. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 11(3–4), 57–67.
JSER Editor-in-chief
and Reh
abilitation, 11(3
4), 57

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

How to write a great rebuttal letter

Most manuscripts have to be revised at least once before they are accepted by a journal. Once the author receives a decision for acceptance with major or minor revisions, he/she has to revise the manuscript based on the peer reviewer comments. The revised manuscript is then submitted to the journal along with a point-by-point response to the reviewer comments. A cover letter for a revised manuscript should be sent to the editor along with the author’s responses to the reviewer comments. This letter is often called the response letter or the rebuttal letter.
It is important to compose a good response letter to accompany the revised manuscript. A response letter or rebuttal letter can be written in two ways:
1. You write a cover letter and attach a separate document in which you have addressed the reviewer comments.
2. Alternatively, your rebuttal letter can be divided into two sections: an introductory part addressed to the journal editor and a second part containing detailed responses to the reviewer comments.
Begin the letter by mentioning the manuscript title and id. Include a small paragraph thanking the reviewers for their valuable time and useful contribution. Mention that you appreciate the inputs they have given and that their inputs will definitely help improve your manuscript. Rebuttal letters that thank the referees set a positive tone right from the beginning. 
If you are including your responses in a separate document, add a paragraph that broadly summarizes the major changes that you have made in the manuscript based on the reviewers’ comments. Mention that you have attached a document containing point-by-point responses to the reviewers’ comments. If you are including the detailed responses in the same letter, mention that the next section contains your responses.
Addressing reviewer comments can be a difficult task, especially, if there are many comments and the comments are long. Here are a few things to keep in mind when addressing reviewer comments:
1. Address each and every point raised by the editor and reviewers: Copy every single comment in your rebuttal letter and write your reply immediately after each point in a clear and concise manner. Make sure that not a single point raised by the reviewers/editor goes unanswered. Even if you do not agree with a point or have not made the change suggested, please mention that and provide a reason for your decision.
2. Provide point-by-point responses: Number the reviewers’ points and respond to them sequentially. Highlight the corresponding changes in the manuscript or refer to the line numbers in the original and revised manuscripts. Consider setting the reviewer comments in bold to distinguish them from your responses. This makes it easier for the editor/reviewers to follow what you have done.
3. Categorize the reviewers’ comments: If there are too many comments, it would help if you separate the comments into categories. For example, all the comments related to methodology could be grouped together, all related to language could be under one category, etc. If you decide to do that, make sure you add a sentence such as “I have separated my responses to the reviewers’ comments according to several categories in order to achieve an integrated approach in my responses.”
4. If comments are in the form of paragraphs, split them into points: If the reviewers’ comments are in the form of large paragraphs, divide them into separate points so that you can address them individually. If you are not sure of what a particular comment means, begin your response by explaining what you have understood from the comment.
5. In case you feel the reviewer has misunderstood something, clarify politely: Reviewers are experts who have extensive knowledge of their field; therefore, if you feel that a reviewer has misunderstood certain parts, it is likely to be due to lack of clarity in your presentation. In such cases, point out the misunderstanding politely and provide the necessary clarification. For instance, you could write: “I am sorry that this part was not clear in the original manuscript. I should have explained that….I have revised the contents of this part.”
6. If you cannot address a point, give a reason: If you cannot address any of the reviewers’ concerns, explain why you cannot do it, for instance, if the reviewer has asked you to provide additional data or conduct additional experiments, which you feel are not necessary. Avoid giving personal reasons like lack of funds or lack of time as reasons. Do not show a negative attitude. Be respectful in your reply. First, thank the reviewer for his/her in-depth analysis and useful comments. Then, explain where you feel you cannot completely agree with the reviewer’s suggestion. Your answer should be clear and logical and should be backed by evidence.
7. When adding new data or figures, mention their location in the manuscript: If you have included new data, tables, figures, etc., indicate where you have added the information: mention page numbers, figure panels, etc. If required, attach supplementary material so that the reviewer/editor has everything that he/she needs and does not have to go searching for the material.  
8. Maintain a polite and respectful tone throughout: Remember that the reviewers have spent a lot of time and effort in evaluating your manuscript. Even if some of the comments appear to be negative, do not take them personally. The reviewers are critiquing your work, not you, and their inputs are value additions to your work. Be polite and respectful in your tone even if you feel that some of the comments are unfavorable or unreasonable. Sometimes some reviewers may have conflicting views. But remember that each of them will read your rebuttal letter, so it is best to be equally polite to all the reviewers. The tone of the cover letter is very important.
9. Conclude the letter appropriately: Be careful of how you end the rebuttal letter. A concluding sentence such as the following may sound overly conceited: "Since all the corrections have been made, we hope the manuscript will now be accepted without any further changes.” A straightforward but polite ending would be “We look forward to hearing from you regarding our submission. We would be glad to respond to any further questions and comments that you may have." Such an ending is formal, polite, and reflects a willingness to make further changes if required.

Source: http://www.editage.com

Citation of articles from last issue of JSER 2014; 15(3-4)

Dear readers,
I want to explain you how to cite articles from last issue 3-4, vol. 15, 2014.



Citation: Cankar F, Deutsch T, Globachnik B, Pinteric A. Inclusive Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Pupils in Slovenia. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):7-23. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0008

Citation: Mahnmud Suleiman Al Shoura H, Che Ahmad A. Review of Special Education Programs in Jordan: Current Practices, Challenges, and Prospects. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):24-42. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0009

Citation: Kovacevic R, Suljagic S, Ljuca D, Mufic E. Recidivism After a Treatment in a Disciplinary Centre for Juveniles. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):43-58. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0010

Citation: Pour MK, Adibsereshki N, Pourmohamadreza-Tajrishi M, Hossseinzadeh S. The Effect of Emotional Intelligence Training on Behavior Problems of Boys with Externalized Behavior Disorder in Elementary Schools. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):59-76. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0011

Citation: Reichenberg M. The Importance of Structured Text Talks for Students’ Reading Comprehension. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):77-94. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0012

Citation: Novak M, Koncar M. The Role of Support Groups in the Cooperation Between Parents of People with Intellectual Disabilities and Professional Staff. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):95-110. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0013

Citation: Laskar R. The Method of Teaching and Examination for Individuals with Visual Impairments: The System in India and Japan. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):111-127. doi: 10.2478/JSER-2014-0014

JSER editor-in-chief



Monday, November 17, 2014

JSER cited in Journal of Mental Health of Thailand

Dear Readers,
Internationality of JSER is not under question. JSER is cited in Journal of Mental Health of Thailand. The following article Jovanova NC and Radojichikj DD. Parents of children with developmental disabilities: stress and support. J Spec Educ Rehabil 2013;14: 7–19 is cited in Journal of Mental Health of Thailand 2014; 22(2) Factors associated with mental health problems of mothers of delayed development children  by authors Siraparulh Thongthep, Summon Chomchai, Sureelak Sutcharitpongsa, Prattana Satitvipawee.
Cheers,
JSER editor-in-chief

JSER in InfoBase index

Dear colleagues,
I want to share with you that Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation is indexed in InfoBase Index.
InfoBase Index is a comprehensive, multipurpose database covering scholarly literature from all over the world.
InfoBase Index holds indexed records from active, authoritative journals. With InfoBase’s broad-ranging, authoritative coverage, you can be confident that you are not missing any critical information.
InfoBase Index indexes articles from all over the world, with the database growing every day. The result is an exhaustive database that assists research in every field.
Most of the journal titles are peer-reviewed, with new journal titles being added to the collection regularly.
InfoBase Index aims at increasing the visibility of open access scholarly journals, thereby promoting their increased usage and impact.
Selection Criteria-
  1. It should be an open access journal.
  2. The journal should have good editorial quality control
  3. The journal should have good peer review quality control
  4. The journal should have an ISSN
INFOBASE INDEX is a source for the basic requirement of every researcher- ‘relevant information’.
INFOBASE INDEX aggregates all the information available, mostly from open access journals, and makes it available to the researchers through their nearest libraries, thereby bringing to the researchers, the latest and the most relevant information available.
With so much information available in the digital space, INFOBASE INDEX provides a platform for segregating the information by indexing the journals at article level and provides the end user the most relevant search results.
At the other end, Journals can increase their visibility and the visibility of their content by providing their content to INFOBASE INDEX.
INFOBASE INDEX plays the much required role of aggregator, segregator and provider of quality information.

JSER editor-in-chief

Sunday, November 9, 2014

JSER in CWTS Journal Indicators

Dear colleagues,
It is good to share with you news about JSER. Another metrics site where you can find Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation is CWTS Journal Indicators.
What is CWTS Journal Indicators?
CWTS Journal Indicators provides free access to bibliometric indicators on scientific journals. The indicators have been calculated by Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) based on the Scopus bibliographic database produced by Elsevier. Indicators are available for over 20,000 journals indexed in the Scopus database.

CWTS Journal Indicators provides free access to bibliometric indicators on scientific journals. The indicators have been calculated by Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) based on the Scopus bibliographic database produced by Elsevier. Indicators are available for over 20,000 journals indexed in the Scopus database.


A key indicator offered by CWTS Journal Indicators is the SNIP indicator, where SNIP stands for source normalized impact per paper. This indicator measures the average citation impact of the publications of a journal. Unlike the well-known journal impact factor, SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between scientific fields, thereby allowing for more accurate between-field comparisons of citation impact. CWTS Journal Indicators also provides stability intervals that indicate the reliability of the SNIP value of a journal. 

JSER editor-in-chief
 

A key indicator offered by CWTS Journal Indicators is the SNIP indicator, where SNIP stands for source normalized impact per paper. This indicator measures the average citation impact of the publications of a journal. Unlike the well-known journal impact factor, SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between scientific fields, thereby allowing for more accurate between-field comparisons of citation impact. CWTS Journal Indicators also provides stability intervals that indicate the reliability of the SNIP value of a journal. More information on the indicators offered by CWTS Journal Indicators is available on the Methodology page. - See more at: http://www.journalindicators.com/#sthash.bNoNlVQ7.dpuf

CWTS Journal Indicators provides free access to bibliometric indicators on scientific journals. The indicators have been calculated by Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) based on the Scopus bibliographic database produced by Elsevier. Indicators are available for over 20,000 journals indexed in the Scopus database.

- See more at: http://www.journalindicators.com/#sthash.bNoNlVQ7.dpuf
CWTS Journal Indicators provides free access to bibliometric indicators on scientific journals. The indicators have been calculated by Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) based on the Scopus bibliographic database produced by Elsevier. Indicators are available for over 20,000 journals indexed in the Scopus database. - See more at: http://www.journalindicators.com/#sthash.bNoNlVQ7.dpuf

Citation searching and bibliometric measures Resources for ranking and tracking

Robin Kear and Danielle Colbert-Lewis
+ Author Affiliations
  1. Robin Kear is reference/instruction librarian at University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library, e-mail: rlk25@pitt.edu, and
  2. Danielle Colbert-Lewis is reference librarian at the James E. Shepard Memorial Library at North Carolina Central University, e-mail: dcolbert@nccu.edu
A professor asks you, “Who is citing my articles? How many times have I been cited? What is my h-index score?”
A student asks you, “How do I know if this article is important?”
Another professor asks you, “Which journal should I publish in for my tenure?”
A different student asks you, “What are the best journals in the field of Anthropology?”
The avenues to evaluate citation tracking and journal ranking have greatly increased in the past six years. Bibliometrics, the applicon of mathematical and statistical analysis to books, journals, and other publications, 1 allows us to choose journal collections, assist with applications for research funding, evaluate journal status, and find significant contributors in a subject area. Most importantly, the expertise librarians have in this area can be used to help our faculty prove their scholarly contribution and achieve success in their tenure process.
Any aggregator of citations could create its own bibliometric measures if they are willing to invest the time and expense. Elsevier and Thomson Reuters are the major players in creating citation and journal measures. Each vendor primarily uses its own unique data, journals, publications, authority files, indexes, and subject categories. Both companies have given their data to research labs to create new metrics that are freely available online from the labs and are also included in the company’s products for subscribers. One metric, the h-index, is vendor neutral but there is no overarching tool that exists across vendors. The bibliometrics field is an exciting one to watch and continues to produce beautiful data visualization projects.

Citation tools and measures

  • Citation Map. Web of Knowledge created this tool that depicts backwards and forwards citation of an article using a map format. The backwards feature represents the citations in the current selected document, and the forward feature represents the documents that have cited the current selected document. This tool gives dynamic representation of the impact that a document has on a field, a topic area, or trend. Access: http://wokinfo.com.
  • Citation Reports. This tool by Web of Knowledge, gives a graphical presentation and snapshot of a set of articles. Upon conducting a search (by topic, author, or publication name) and selecting a group of documents, users will find a link to Web of Knowledge to Create Citation Reports. The report includes graphs for Published Items in Each Year and Citations in Each Year. The Results Found section of the report details the Sum of times cited, Sum of times cited without self-citations, Citing articles, Average citations per item, and the h-index. Citation Reports serves as a helpful tool as it helps users to understand various trends of a topic, how an author has published over time, and the most cited articles related to that search topic. Access: http://wokinfo.com.
  • Citation Tracker. This Scopus product gives detailed information on finding, checking, and tracking citations. Upon conducting a search and selecting a group of documents in Scopus, Citation Tracker, displayed under the View Citation Overview page, gives users an overview of how many times a selected document has been cited upon its initial selection, and the number of documents that cited the selected document since 1996 and the h-index. This citation overview information assists researchers by helping them evaluate the currency and impact of research overtime. Access: http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • h-graph. Scopus’s h-graph visually depicts the impact of an author’s research or set of articles. By selecting h-graph, users have a choice of three different graphs to view or select: the h-index, articles published, and citations. Users will also see these graphs under the author’s name or by conducting a document search. At the end of the search, the user then selects an author’s hyperlinked name under the research section via a view h-graph link. Access: http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • h-index. J. E. Hirsch created the hindex in his 2005 paper titled “An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output.” In this foundational paper, Hirsch tries to answer the question, “[H]ow does one quantify the cumulative impact and relevance of an individual’s scientific research output?” In the abstract, Hirsch proposes that the index h, defined as the number of papers with citation number ≥h, serves as a useful index to characterize the scientific output of a researcher.
    The h-index measures the broad impact of a researcher’s work. When conducting research for the aforementioned article, the data focused primarily on physicists, however the data has proven applicability to other areas of sciences and more recently to humanities. Web of Knowledge and Scopus both include the h-index in searches for an author. In Web of Knowledge, a user finds the h-index under the Citation Reports section at the beginning of a search. In Scopus, the user will find the h-index presented by conducting a search and selecting an author’s hyperlinked name under the Research section. Access: Web of Knowledge at http://www.wokinfo.com and Scopus at http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.

Subscription databases for citation searching

  • Academic Search Premier. This database by EBSCOhost has a few tools that allow researchers to search for citation effectively. These tools include Find Similar Results, Cited References, and Citation Matcher. The Find Similar Results feature uses Smart- Text Searching to find other documents that share a relation to the original article. By conducting a Cited Reference search, the user receives a list of articles that cite the original article. Located under the More option feature in Academic Search Premier (top menu bar), the Citation Matcher feature allows researchers to search for specific works. Access: http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier.
  • Google Scholar. Google Scholar has the Cited By feature, which allows researchers to see how many times a document has been cited. At the conclusion of a search, the results show the number of times that both articles and documents have been cited. This feature helps researchers get a preliminary idea of the articles and research that make an impact in a field of interest. Google has a new tool called Google Scholar Citations that will create a public profile for users that includes their citation metrics as calculated by Google. This feature is currently in testing with a small group of users. Keep in mind that Google Scholar includes citations from an array of sources in its cited by calculations, including Microsoft PowerPoint and Word documents, and gives everything an equal rank. Access: http://scholar.google.com and for more information on the new Scholar Citations see http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/citations.html.
  • JSTOR. JSTOR, by ITHAKA, has two search options: the Citation Locator and Advanced Search. These tools serve as good options for researchers that know of a journal’s accessibility in JSTOR and have citation information available. Citation Locator takes you directly to the article. Once the user selects a document from a search, he or she has the option to use the Google Scholar feature Items Citing regarding the citation of the search item. By selecting this feature, a search will be run in Google Scholar for articles citing the original target article. Users have another feature in JSTOR at their disposal called Track Citations. By selecting this feature, users receive an e-mail when another article in JSTOR cites the original target article. Access: http://about.jstor.org.
  • PsycINFO. Produced by the American Psychological Association, PsycINFO has the Find Citation feature as one of the search options on the main search page. This tools works well when the researcher has detailed citation information accessible to enter into the search. Access: http://www.apa.org/psycinfo.
  • Scopus. This Elsevier database contains the Citation Tracker in the View Citation Overview area and the number of times a document has been cited within that overview, and also the h-index. Another feature of Scopus called Related Documents shows documents that have shared references. Following a user’s search and selection of a document, the Related Documents feature allows the researcher to find other documents that have shared references, author, and/or keywords. Access: http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • Web of Knowledge. This database by Thomson Reuters offers search tools like Cited Reference Search in order to directly access specific documents. Moreover, once a user chooses a search in conducted and document, the Times Cited tool helps users to see how many other documents have cited the originally selected document. Users may also view the Times Cited on the search page and the h-index. All of these features benefit researchers by helping them evaluate the significance of a document to a topic, a field of study, or a trend. Access: http://wokinfo.com.
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Journal tools and measures

  • Article Influence Score. This score came out of the same project by Carl Bergstrom’s team at University of Washington as Eigenfactor and uses Thomson Reuters JCR citation data. It calculates the relative importance of a journal on a per-article basis. It is the journal’s Eigenfactor Score divided by the fraction of articles published by the journal. That fraction is normalized so that the sum total of articles from all journals is 1. A score greater than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has above-average influence. A score less than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has below-average influence. Access: More information, including visualization of the data, and scores for certain years are available freely through the Eigenfactor Web site at http://www.eigenfactor.org and/or through the Journal Citation Reports subscription database available from Thomson Reuters at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports/.
  • Eigenfactor Score. This score came out of the Metrics Eigenfactor Project, a bibliometric research project conducted by Carl Bergstrom and his laboratory at the University of Washington. The Eigenfactor Score uses Thomson Reuters JCR citation data and measures the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year. Similar to the Impact Factor, the Eigenfactor Score is essentially a ratio of the number of citations to total number of articles. However, unlike the Impact Factor, the Eigenfactor Score counts the citations to journals in both the sciences and social sciences, eliminates self-citations, and weights each reference according to a stochastic measure of the amount of time researchers spend reading the journal. Eigenfactor scores are scaled so that the sum of the Eigenfactor scores of all journals listed in Thomson’s JCR is 100. The top 1,000 journals, as ranked by Eigenfactor score, all have scores above 0.01. Access: More information, including visualization of the data, and scores for certain years are available freely through the Eigenfactor Web site at http://www.eigenfactor.org and/or scores are included as part of the Journal Citation Reports subscription database available by subscription from Thomson Reuters at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports/.
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  • Impact Factor. The Impact Factor is certainly the longest and most well-known journal measure. Eugene Garfield first had the idea for the measure in 1955, and it was published as part of the Science Citation Index in 1961. The journal Impact Factor is the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past two years have been cited in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) year using Thomson Reuter’s citation data. An Impact Factor of 1.0 means that, on average, the articles published one or two years ago have been cited one time. Citing articles may be from the same journal; however, most citing articles are from different journals. Access: Through the subscription database Journal Citation Reports, available from Thomson Reuters at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports.
  • Journal Analyzer Tool. In Scopus, this tool provides a view of journal performance using Elsevier citation data. Using citations from nearly 18,000 titles from 5,000 international publishers, the Journal Analyzer has scores from 1999 forward. The journal analyzer charts the SJR score, SNIP score, total number of citations received by the journal, total number of documents of the journal, and the percentage of documents that are not cited from that year. Access: http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) Score. This score was created by the SCImago Lab and Professor Felix de Moya-Anegon at the University of Granada in Spain using Elsevier citation data from Scopus. SJR starts with a basic per-peer-reviewed document measure that is the number of citations received by a journal divided by the number of citations in that journal for the three previous years. SJR then weights the citations with a prestige metric that normalizes across the citation behavior of different journals. Access: http://www.scimagojr.com/index.php and http://www.journalmetrics.com and/or through the Scopus subscription database available from Elsevier at http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper). SNIP was developed by Henk Moed at the CWTS (Centre for Science and Technology Studies) of Leiden University in the Netherlands using Elsevier citation data from Scopus. SNIP also starts with a basic per peer-reviewed document measure that is the number of citations received by a journal divided by the number of citations in that journal for the three previous years. SNIP then considers the citations in the context in which they are made (the journal), including a citation’s potential (or how likely it is to be cited) that normalizes across disciplines. Access: http://www.journalindicators.com and http://www.journalmetrics.com or through the Scopus subscription database at http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
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Subscription databases for journal measures

  • InCites. This Thomson Reuters database is a citation-based research evaluation tool of people, programs, and peers. Bibliometrics included in the analysis are total papers, total citations, citation impact (cites per paper), percent cited and uncited papers, collaboration indicators, expected citation count, expected citation rates for category, mean/median citation, h-index score, citation frequency distribution, source article rankings, and citation articles rankings. Access: http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/incites/.
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    View larger version:
  • Journal Citation Reports. This Thomson Reuters database can be accessed separately or through the ISI Web of Knowledge platform. The database is the only way to access the Impact Factor metrics, and it also includes the Eigenfactor and Article Influence scores, five-year Impact Factor, and the immediacy index. The Sciences Edition covers more than 6,500 journals; the Social Sciences Edition covers more than 1,900, both from 1997 forward. Access: Pricing and sales contact information at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports.
  • Scopus. Scopus, from Elsevier, is a database that includes coverage of scientific, technical, medical, and social science journals and conference proceedings. The bibliometrics included are h-index score, hgraph, citation tracker, journal analyzer, and SNIP and SJR journal scores. Access: http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus.
  • Web of Knowledge. From Thomson Reuters, Web of Knowledge is a platform that includes the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities journals, and conference proceedings. The platform can include Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports, depending on the institution’s subscriptions. Citation metrics included are h-index score, citation reports, citation mapping, citing articles, and sums and averages of citations. Access: http://wokinfo.com.

Further viewing

  • Web of Knowledge Training You- Tube Channel. Watch Thomson Reuter’s WoK (Web of Knowledge) channel for short videos on citation counts, cited reference searching, and citation reports features available through the subscription database. Access: http://www.youtube.com/user/WoKtraining.
  • ScopusTV YouTube Channel. Watch Elsevier’s ScopusTV channel for short videos on the h-index, SNIP, and SJR scores available through the subscription database. Access: http://www.youtube.com/user/ScopusTV.

Bibliography


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

JSER 10 most read articles

Dear colleagues,
I want to share with you 10 most read articles since September 8th, 2009 year. They are listed bellow:

Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation in Google Scholar

Dear readers,
I want to inform you that I made efforts to include Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation in Google Scholar. The one challenge that remained however was to demonstrate citation impact for Open Access journal titles. Google Scholar Citations – developed to assist researchers to determine the impact of their scholarly output – has been utilised to determine the number of citations for individual Open Access journal titles (see titles below). As with everything in the digital environment this is in Beta, and there are no guarantees that the results are 100% accurate.
Here is Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation profile on Google Scholar. There are following parameters: 
Citation indicesAll  Since 2009
Citations138      103
h-index5      4
i10-index1      1 
JSER has 138 citations in total and we must work to improve this citation index. 
JSER h-index is 5.
JSER editor-in-chief



















Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Open Access Week

Dear readers,
Between October 20 and 26 is Open Access Week worldwide. Our journal strongly supports this kind of events. On our web site JSER online we put logo of this event. Also we take some activities to improve the functionality of our web site. Open Access Week, a global event now entering its eighth year, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research. This is a week to acknowledge the wide-ranging benefits of enabling open access to information and research—as well as exploring the dangerous costs of keeping knowledge locked behind publisher paywalls. 
JSER editor-in-chief

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

When To Use Graphs, Diagrams, and Images in Your Research Paper?

According to the American psychologist Howard Gardner, human intelligence can be divided into seven categories: visual-spatial, bodily kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical-mathematical. This implies our intelligence strengths can be different in each (so-called) intelligence profile and that everybody can be intelligent in many different ways.
Gardner says these differences “challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning.” The truth is that we learn and understand things differently, and these differences affect the manner we read academic papers. A research paper is usually a combination of written and visual information. We can assume that those who have a predominant linguistic intelligence would focus on written information, whereas those with a visual-spatial intelligence would feel more comfortable focusing on graphs, diagrams, or images. How to combine both to achieve a paper that engages readers with different intelligence profiles at par?
The perfect combination
The first thing we must understand is that, no matter how much visual support they have, papers are written works. Filling pages with unnecessary images, graphs, diagrams or any other kind of visual material is never a good idea. Remember that you are writing a professional academic paper and, therefore, your capacity to discern which material is important. Once this is clear, it is time to discern which information is likely to be visually demonstrated.
Some main ideas would help you to decide when to use graphs. Choose only information that can be clearer if explained visually, and only if it is so important that you desire the reader to keep focus on it more than in other parts. Besides, this piece of information must be qualitatively or quantitatively measurable.
Images can also be used to summarize; plenty of information can be perfectly summed up in a single graph. Lastly, another reason to use images is comparison. Graphs and diagrams are great tools to indicate the differences between two agents.
Do not fill up your images with too much information because it would complicate the readers’ understanding. Images combine or support the written words, but should not be used to replace them. A good combination of words and images can ease the paper’s general understanding.
Thinking visually: how to choose?
It is important to know the possibilities each tool offers. Graphs, for example, are good to express the mathematical relationship or statistical correlation between data. Line graphs are useful to present an evolution, circulant graphs are better to indicate proportional parts and column graphs are commonly used to compare different elements.
Researchers and academics are supposed to have a good command of graphs usage. However, the capacity of selecting which data is most likely to be shown this way makes the difference. Indeed, achieving a good command of these tools is quite difficult, but is possible with experience.
Last but not least, it is always helpful to consider the final goal of an academic paper: communication. Thus, if the graph clearly points to one of the research’s main statements, do not doubt in using it.
This post was written by Tania Alonso, a Content Writer with Enago.

Source: enago.blog.com

JSER cited in master thesis

Respected readers,
Almost everyday I received citation alerts about JSER papers. The recent citaion is
M. F. Casanova, A. Farag, E.-B. Ayman, M. Meghan, H. Hassan, R. Fahmi, and A. E. Switala. Abnormalities of the gyral window in autism: A macro-scopic correlate to a putative minicolumnopathy. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 7(1-2), 2006.
in masther thesis
FAST AND ROBUST HYBRID FRAMEWORK FOR INFANT BRAIN CLASSIFICATION FROM STRUCTRUAL MRI: A CASE STUDY FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF AUTISM by Amir Alansary B.S., Mansoura University, Egypt, 2009. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, August, 2014.
JSER editor-in-chief

Monday, October 20, 2014

How to Optimize Your Sentence Length in Academic Writing?

Academic writing conveys clear and accurate information, and to this end, places a high premium on well-constructed, carefully thought-out content. Alas! Many a time, these hallowed features lead academic sentences to becoming lengthy and convoluted, making the text hard to read. In this article, let’s look at some tips that will help you maintain an appropriate length of your sentence so that you can communicate your message or idea more effectively to the reader, which otherwise is hard to achieve, in a lengthy sentence in which the readers have to go through chains of words and ideas without a break or a pause and so find it harder to process all the information and keep in mind what the original message or overall objective was when they started reading the sentence and where all this information is leading to!
Long and convoluted sentences affect comprehension and readability. Period. Without careful crafting, they can be really hard to understand. Then again, too short sentences make for choppy writing without flow and cannot hold complex thoughts.
Is there a way to optimize sentence length? Fortunately, yes.
Here are some tips:
  • 1. Appropriate sentence length: Most readability formulas use the number of words in a sentence to measure its difficulty. Try to keep the average sentence length of your document around 20–25 words. This is a good rule of thumb to convey your meaning in a balanced way and avoiding marathon or choppy sentences. The number varies as per the field, audience, or the nature of writing. For example, the average sentence length in abstracts of the natural sciences is reported to be shorter than that found in social science and humanities abstracts.
  • 2. Vary your sentence length: Do not follow a strict length for each and every sentence. Your writing should have a mix of short, medium, and long sentences. The above tip suggests an average for a long sentence. Incorporating variety in academic writing avoids monotony, creates emphasis where needed, and helps the reader understand connections between different points. If you find that your sentence is as long as a paragraph or around 40–50 words, break it down to smaller sentences. Similarly, if your text has many back-to-back short sentences, join them.
  • 3. Focus on your message: Do not cram two or three main ideas into one long sentence. Know your main points and present them with pauses by breaking them down into smaller sentences. Losing focus of your message will lead to long drawn-out sentences and disjointed writing. When conveying a series of facts, do not unnecessarily connect all facts in one sentence but split them into smaller sentences.
  • 4. Fixing short sentences: Combining sentences into a longer one is a simple way of fixing short and choppy sentences. Use coordinating conjunctions (or, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to avoid strings of short, vaguely related sentences. Subordinating conjunctions (after, since, whereas, because, etc.) are also used to connect sentences as well as ideas effectively.
  • 5. Fixing long sentences: Following the reverse of the above tip, remove excessive coordinating conjunctions and instead use a full stop to start a fresh sentence. Avoid starting a sentence with qualifiers such as “although,” “because,” or “since.” Avoid comma-plagued sentences and adding information in one long sentence using commas.
  • 6. Use concise expressions: Writing concisely and avoiding redundancy play a huge role in securing your text from marathon sentences. You could avoid beginning sentences with there/it is, reduce wordy phrases and nonessential prepositional phrases, and use the active voice.
Source: www.enago.com

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Polish author from JSER have been cited

Dear readers,
I want to inform you that JSER has one more citation. Polish author Joana Kossewska have been cited in

Verification Outcomes of Stigmatized Identities: Using Identity Theory to Understand the Relationship between Deaf Identity Processes and Depression

MJ Carter, DC Mireles.
The cited article is:Kossewska J. Personal Identity in Deaf Adolescents. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation 2008; 9 (1-2): 67-75.
JSER editor-in-chief
K

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

JSER indexed in MIAR

Respected readers,
I want to announce that our journal JSER is indexed in MIAR. with ICDS 2014: 7.730. What is MIAR?
Updated annually, based MIAR brings together key data for the identification and evaluation of journals. These are grouped into major scientific areas -subdivididas turn in more specialist academic fields. The system creates a matrix of correspondence between journals, identified by ISSN, and databases, directories and catalogs of libraries that indexed or included. Furthermore, the link to the websites of publishers and responsible institutions repertoires and sources indicated whenever the same are available.
MIAR is a support tool for those involved in their evaluation: now have data on the identity and distribution of the journals where the papers are published under evaluation.
MIAR publications includes more than 28,000, for each of which its presence repertoires multidisciplinary BDD is analyzed and as a result their ICDS is obtained.

JSER editor-in-chief 
ICDS = 7.730
ICDS = 7.730

Saturday, October 11, 2014

JSER paper cited in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dear readers,
I want to share new citation of JSER paper in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences Volume 149, 5 September 2014, Pages 889–895. Authors: Despina Sivevska, Jadranka Runceva, Biljana Pesova in the paper The Role of Professional Primary School Services (Pedagogue, Psychologist) in the Process of Inclusion (with Special Aspect of Hyperactive Children) have cited JSER paper from N. Sofijanov, M. Kuturec, F. Duma, V. Sabolic-Avramovska, A. Sofijanova-Spasovska. Hyperactive child‘s disturbed attention as the most common cause for light forms of mental deficiency. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation 1998; 2 (1).
JSER editor-in-chief