Collection Development Manual
Journals
The American Library Association Glossary of Library and Information Science (2013) defines journal as "a periodical, especially one containing scholarly articles and /or disseminating current information on research and development in a particular subject."
The Library’s objective is to support important discoveries in health, medicine and the life sciences by assembling a comprehensive collection of the world's most significant research journals, in all subjects collected by NLM and without regard to country of origin or language of publication. Therefore, NLM’s first collecting priority is the original research journal, containing papers by credentialed researchers who possess expertise in the subject which they investigate.
NLM also collects a variety of other journal types. The emphasis is on those of interest to U.S. health professionals. These types include:
Clinical practice journals, which describe practical approaches, tools and techniques for practitioners. NLM selectively collects clinical practice journals from other countries, to document diverse approaches.
Clinical case reports, which describe a patient’s medical symptoms, diagnosis and treatment for scientific or educational purposes. To be considered for the collection, reports should include substantial discussion about relevance to clinical practice and research. Journals that cover clinical and surgical procedures should provide a detailed explanation of the procedure and its impact on patient care.
Data journals, which provide descriptions of biomedical research datasets, including genome sequences. These journals should detail the methods used to create or collect the data, describe validation of the data and facilitate the sharing and reuse of the data by other researchers. Datasets should be in publicly accessible repositories and fully referenced in the articles.
"Current awareness" periodicals, which provide cursory summaries of a topic. NLM generally does not collect periodicals that duplicate journal literature already in the collection.
Journals whose aims and scope are local, regional or institutional in nature. Such journals may have local significance, but usually do not have broader applicability to the international research or clinical community. NLM may select a local, regional, or institutional journal that contributes noteworthy, specialized scientific knowledge.
NLM expects conformance with guidelines and best practices promoted by professional scholarly publishing organizations. To be considered for the collection, a journal should demonstrate good editorial quality and elements that contribute to the objectivity, credibility, and scientific quality of its content. These elements include information about the methods of selecting articles; explicit details about the peer review process; and statements indicating adherence to ethical guidelines. Authors should disclose financial conflicts of interest. Commercial sponsorship should not raise questions about the objectivity of the published content. Additional factors NLM considers include the publisher and/or sponsoring organization’s longevity, business practices, corporate structure, and record of performance regarding such issues as: quality of publications; experience in scholarly publishing; involvement with the scientific community; disclosure of and adherence to print and online publication standards; and promotion of editorial integrity and independence.
When selecting scholarly and scientific journals, NLM expects, as a benchmark, at least 20% of the articles to be "in scope" - i.e., to fall within the subject collection parameters outlined in this manual. Other periodicals -- those that are not sources of original research -- must be primarily biomedical in content to be considered for selection. The Library may make exceptions to this rule to ensure that the collection provides sufficient geographic heterogeneity. For example, NLM may select basic science or social science journals from developing countries, which often have little or no medical publishing per se.