OBIS Publications Study

Linda Pikula, NOAA and IODE GEMIM

Ashley Jefferson, NOAA
November 2014 for OBIS Steering Group
Oostende, BE

Analyzing OBIS Papers

Ward Appeltans, IODE Program Specialist, Project Manager
OBIS, requested this project to demonstrate that OBIS is
used and how it is used and perhaps how it might be used
more effectively in publication output?
He delivered over 900 literature citations gathered through
Google Scholar to be analyzed.
Documents mentioned OBIS or used OBIS data.
Documents were categorized into 9 Fields

9 Categories

Law
Economy
Industry
Conservation
Data Management
Science Policy
Ecosystem Services
Informatics/visualization
Other (with the other topics listed)
Also, languages in which publications were produced
and regional focus of articles were noted when possible

Categories of Published OBIS Documents # of Documents in Each

700

600

610

500

400
364
300

241
200
157
100

110
56

91
40

79

In Other Category of OBIS

Documents

Education/Communication
GeoBon
Funding
Ethno Archeology
MPA's
Extinct
Emergency Response
Satellites
Turtles
Oil Pollution
Bronze Age Shells
Early Pleistocene

Sampling
History of Science
Seabirds
Microbial
Genetics
Molecular Ecology
Applied Geography
Medical
Invasive Species
Sonar noise/mammals
Mountains Biodiversity
Barcoding DNA
Gap Analysis
Genetic Resources
Bar Code of Life
Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology,
Paleoecology

Languages Represented in OBIS Documents

1000

900
891
800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

English

19
Spanish

18
Portuguese

8
French

3
Dutch

20
Japanese

4
German

2
Italian

1
Romanian

16
Chinese

7
Russian

Regional Content of Published OBIS Documents (Approximate)

250

229

227

200

150

100

108

50

61

54

54

46

20
0

23

43
29
19

17

20

16
1

9
1

OBIS Publications in Peer Reviewed vs. Gray Lit

Peer Reviewed = 615

Gray Lit = 374
Total = 989
Gray Lit; 38%

Peer Reviewed; 62%

5 Year Impact Factor for OBIS Published Journals by Journal Title High-Low
(High- Nature, Low- Analele Stiintifice ale Universitatii Ai I Cienza)
45.000
40.000
35.000
30.000
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000
0.000

1 Year Impact Factor for OBIS Published Journals by Journal Title High-Low
(High- Nature, Low- Analele Stiintifice ale Universitatii Ai I Cienza)
45.000
40.000
35.000
30.000
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000
0.000

Published OBIS Documents Number of articles per Journal High-Low

(High- Plos One, L: Vidyasagar University Journal of Library and Information Science)
60

50

40

30

20

10

Percent of OBIS Peer Reviewed Journals w/ 5 Year High Impact Factor (above 4.000) vs Low Impact Factor

Above 4.000; 25%

Below 4.000; 75%

Above 4.000 = 43
Below 4.000 = 127
Total = 170

Peer Reviewed Journals Publishing OBIS Documents

Ranked/Not Ranked for Impact Factor

Ranked = 170
Not Ranked = 44
Total = 214

Titles Not Ranked; 21%

Titles Ranked; 79%

Web of Science
OBIS Citation Distribution by Year and
H-Index 41
Peer Reviewed Articles Only

A note on Web of Science

metrics
Citation Metrics are computed on
peer reviewed articles only. This is
a better metric
WOS metrics are repeatable and
computation is conducted in a
standard manner
This allows for comparison in a
reliable way

A Note on Google Scholar

metrics
Google Scholar metrics are computed
in an unrevealed manner
They are computed using peer and
non-peer reviewed publications not
a generally accepted manner for
academics
Google Scholar metrics are generally
not repeatable
The Google metrics are improving.

Google Scholar
OBIS Citation Distribution by Year and
H-Index 50
Peer Reviewed and Gray Lit

Results 1
OBIS has produced almost 1,000 publications
since its inception (which could be tracked
under present conditions)
Scholarly publications could be tracked more
accurately through better use of OBIS terms in
keywords delivered to publishers when science
articles are submitted for publication
Citations to these articles might be improved
through thoughtful choice of publication
venues, considering Impact Factor of journals

Suggested Keywords to Use

(Seems Obvious but not often used)

OBIS Thematic Nodes

FishBase
Hexacorals
OBIS-SEAMAP
MicrOBIS
Seamounts Online
Syndeep

Regional OBIS Nodes

AntOBIS
ArcOD
ArOBIS
OBIS-Australia
OBIS-Canada
Caribbean OBIS
OBIS-China
EurOBIS
IndOBIS
OBIS-Japan
KOBIS
MedOBIS
PEGO-OBIS
SEAOBIS
South Western Pacific OBIS
AfrPBOS
ESPOBIS
WSAOBIS
OBIS-USA
OBIS-Ukraine

Results 2
Suggested publishing in Peer
Reviewed journals rather than gray
literature when possible

Results 3
Suggest Publishing in the highest
impact factor journals

Results:
Suggested High Impact Journals in which to publish
Using 5 year Impact Factor
Imp.F
# pub
Nature

40.783

Science

34.463

Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics

19.806

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

18.987

Ecology Letters

17.794

Annual Review of Marine Science

16.277

Systematic Biology

14.219

Nature Geoscience

13.930

Biological Reviews

10.912

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America

10.727

Current Biology

10.227

Oceanography and Marine Biology

10.194

ISME Journal

9.296

Ecological Monographs

9.188

Global Change Biology

8.595

Highest 5 year impact journals 2nd page

Journal of Biogeography

4.965

12

Progress in Oceanography

4.713

Biological Conservation

4.703

Advances in Marine Biology

4.679

Biogeosciences

4.644

Limnology and Oceanography

4.332

Environmental Modelling & Software

4.275

Paleoceanography

4.177

Coral Reefs

4.137

Plos One

4.015

54

Ecological Economics

4.002

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

3.989

Environmental Science & Policy

3.948

Science of the Total Environment

3.906

Mammal Review

3.904

Biology Letters

3.902

Ecology and Society

3.889

Unranked Journals no impact

factor page 1
Journal Titles Used for Publishing OBIS Documents without any ranking for
Impact Factor

Atoll Research Bulletin

Biodiversity in Indian Scenario
Biodiversity Informatics
Biologie in Unserer Zeit
Biota Colombiana
Bolletin de Instituto Oceanografico de Venezuela
Bulletin of the Plankton Society of Japan
Data Science Journal
Digital Libraries
Diversity
Earth System Science Data: The Data Publishing Journal
Echinoderm Research and Diversity in Latin America
Ecological Archives
Ecology and Biology of Nephrops Norvegicus
Electronic Jornal of Sustainable Development
Endangered Species Research

Impact
Fact

not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not
ranked
not

# Articles
Published

1
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2

Unranked Journals Page 2

Industrial Biotechnology

not ranked

International Journal of Anthropology

not ranked

International Journal of Biodiversity, Oceanology and Conservation

not ranked

Intropica (this may have another title)

not ranked

Japanese Journal of Conservation Ecology

not ranked

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

not ranked

Marine Biodiversity

not ranked

Marine Biodiversity Records

not ranked

Marine Ornithology

not ranked

Nature in Singapore

not ranked

Oceanography Magazine (this may not be peer reviewed)

not ranked

Oecologia Australis

not ranked

Open Ornithology Journal

not ranked

Pacific Seabirds

not ranked

Pan American Journal of Aquatic Sciences

not ranked

Peches et Oceans Canada

not ranked

Procedia Environmental Sciences

not ranked

Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

not ranked

Revue de micropaleontologie

not ranked

Scientific Data

not ranked

The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology and Society

not ranked

Treffpunkt Biologische Vielfalt

not ranked

Vidyasagar University Journal of Library and Information Science

not ranked

References and Charts

The Endnote file used to compile this
study is available on request from
linda.pikula@noaa.gov
Also, all excel files created are
available
The 405 Peer reviewed citations are
freely available in Linda Pikulas
ResearcherID
www.researcherid.com

To Access Top Cited OBIS Articles,

Top Cited OBIS Authors, Least Cited
OBIS Articles
1. Go to Researcher ID
http://www.researcherid.com/
2. Search for Members (left side)
3. Search for Linda Pikula
4. Select name to view list of articles
5. Sort by Title, Times Cited, Date Added,
or Publication Date