An analysis of the journal rankings within the ’Geography, Planning and Development’ category of the Scimago database

One of the main consequences of the neoliberalization of scientific life is the growing demand for measurement and comparability of scientific achievements, not only by the academia but also by society as a financier and the economy as a customer. Thus, more and more attention is being paid to journal rankings created by prestigious (and generally Anglo-Saxon-dominated) reference databases (Web of Science or Scimago) that make this possible. They play a key role in the allocation of research resources; the promotion of researchers thus also influences the publication strategies. The study aims to explore the changes and certain spatial aspects in rankings within the Geography, Planning and Development category. The research is based on the analysis of the quartile classification of human geography journals indexed in the Scimago database. Our results show what are the factors that influence the relative position of a particular journal, and through this, the indicators of researcher success.

Keywords: Scientometrics; Scimago; SJR; Geography, Planning and Development journals; quartiles