Determination of highly linked free e-journals for Arts & Humanities courses in Shahid Chamran Ahvaz University (Iran)

Abstract

Now, there are many free electronic journals accessible for their readers on the Web. Many of the academic staff and students, especially in developing countries are using these journals to fulfill their academic needs. However, not all of these journals can be considered as academically qualified and credited. Libraries and information centers can select those free e-journals that are highly linked on the web area. The purpose of this article is determination of highly linked free e-journals for Arts & Humanities courses in Shahid Chamran Ahvaz University (Iran) by Webometrics method. In this research, Total-links, In-links and self-links of 10 Arts & Humanities courses in Shahid Chamran Ahvaz University, have been extracted from web environment. These courses include: Library & Information Science, History, French Literature, English Language, Management, Economics, Psychology, Education Science, Physiology, and Sociology. The highly Linked free e-journals of these courses were identified using the Yahoo! search engine in February 2005. As a result, the core free e-journals were identified for each course of study. Findings revealed that Education Science course with 5 core free e-journals had the greatest part free e-journals and French Literature, History, Management and Physiology courses with only one core free e-journal had the least part of free e-journals. This study also indicated that First Monday journal that has belonged to Library and Information Science course had maximum amount with 43800 In-Links and Public Administration and Management that has belonged to Management course, had minimum amount with only 74 In-Links.