Journal Metrics Project - tandfonline.com
Example of a journal landing page with the red “impact factor”.
The Problem:
The Taylor and Francis Group recently joined The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) which recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated. This initiative asks publishers to stop promoting the Impact Factor on journal landing pages as well as providing more meaning valid metrics to their customers. That meant adding new metrics to the page while removing the impact factor on the homepage (which had previously been a red circle overlaying the journal cover). We needed to find out how to best do this for users while still making sure they were able to find the metrics.
Process:
Remote interviews were conducted with 6 different users. These users were Academics or Knowledge Seekers with experience in publishing journal articles. Each user was asked to walk through several journeys giving feedback throughout. They were asked to give general feedback of the Taylor and Francis Journal landing page & to compare and contrast different placements for the new Journal Metrics.
“Oooh the time to acceptance is amazing! That’s really life changing.
”
“This is much better!”
Solutions:
1.
2 of users who preferred this layout option, still had trouble seeing the button.
Users were asked indirectly to find the Journal Metrics on this page.
2 of the users who expressed this as their preferred layout. But would prefer it designed in a green. This is not a doable options as the only green buttons are action buttons.
Recommendation: this is not the ideal location for the Journal Metrics to located.
2.
6 out of 6 of users preferred the metric layout with icons
All 6 users preferred the design with icons. They felt that the design was easier to absorb and understand.
Users particularly liked the speedometer icon.
Recommendation: Use icons in Journal Metrics landing page.
3.
5 of the 6 Users did not see the Journal Metrics on this layout option
Users were asked indirectly to find the Journal Metrics on this page. 5 of the 6 Users interviewed had to be directed to the location.
Recommendation: this is not the ideal location for the Journal Metrics to located.
4.
4 of 6 Users preferred this as the location for the Journal Metrics
Before and after being shown this layout users chose this location as where they expected to find the Journal Metrics.
Recommendation: This is the ideal location for the Journal Metrics to be listed.
5.
3 of 6 Users were confused by the title “This Journal”
Users wanted more clarity on the section title “This Journal” sounded too vague to them. Recommend based on user feedback to change title to “About this journal” or “About journal”.
Note: Even with the lack of clarity on the title, users preferred the placement of the Journal Metrics to be in section.
6.
1 of the 6 users understood all the journal metrics listed.
5 out of the 6 users requested more explanation of the metrics listed.
All the users felt that the metrics were helpful and would help them deciding where to submit their articles to.
None of the users had any additional metric ideas
Recommendation: Including an explanation for each Metric on the Journal Metric landing page.
Further Recommendation:
View of the Journal Metrics overtime – one of the users suggested to have a view of the metrics year over year, a possible future Journal Metric iteration.
