Are geography journals worth their cost? In Geoforum (Vol. 37, Nov. 2006), Simon Fraser University professor Nicholas Blomley assessed whether the price of a geography journal is correlated with quality. He collected pricing data (cost for a 1-year subscription, in U.S. dollars) for a sample of 28 geography journals. In addition to cost, three other variables were measured: journal impact factor (JIF), defined as the average number of times articles from the journal have been cited; number of citations for a journal over the past five years; and relative price index (RPI), a measure developed by economists. [Note: A journal with an RPI less than 1.25 is considered a “good value.”] The data for the 28 geography journals are saved in the GEOJRNL file. (Selected observations are shown in the table on page 91.)
a. Construct a scatterplot for the variables JIF and cost. Do you detect a trend?
b. Construct a scatterplot for the variables number of cites and cost. Do you detect a trend?
c. Construct a scatterplot for the variables RPI and cost. Do you detect a trend?
Journal | Cost ($) | JIF | Cites | RPI |
J.Econ.Geogr. | 468 | 3.139 | 207 | 1.16 |
Prog. Hum. Geog. | 624 | 2.943 | 544 | 0.77 |
T.I. Brit.Geogr. | 499 | 2.388 | 249 | 1.11 |
Econ.Geogr. | 90 | 2.325 | 173 | 0.30 |
A.A.A. Geogr. | 698 | 2.115 | 377 | 0.93 |
⋮ | ⋮ | ⋮ | ⋮ | ⋮ |
Geogr.Anal. | 213 | 0.902 | 106 | 0.88 |
Geogr.J. | 223 | 0.857 | 81 | 0.94 |
Appl.Geogr. | 646 | 0.853 | 74 | 3.38 |
Based on Blomley, N. “Is this journal worth US$118?” Geoforum, Vol. 37, No. 6, Nov. 2006 (Tables 1, 2, and 3).
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