Agricultural and Extension Education Department Heads’ Perceptions of Journals and Importance of Publishing

According to Katz (1973). most college administrators tend to rely on their own intuition and knowledge of different journals as criteria for faculty evaluation. T h e administrator’s intuition and knowledge of a journal is usually based upon familiarity and notion of quality (Goldsmith, Thoresen & Goldsmith, 1988). Agricultural and extension education department heads ’ perceptions of journals and publishing is a crucial factor in the evaluation and career advancement of faculty members. The department head’s assessment of faculty production affects individual faculty salary, promotion, tenure, and opportunities for future professional growth and advancement. Administrator perceptions of journals have been studied in a variety of fields as a part of journal analysis. Journal analysis measures the systematic changes in a journal over a specific period of time. One area within the journal analysis is detenniniig the familiarity and quality. According to Mace and Warner (1973) and Buss and McDermott (1976). journal familiarity and quality studies are conducted for two main reasons: 1) to guide potential contributors to journals and 2) to assist administrators in making decisions about an individual faculty member’s promotion and tenure. A number of researchers have examined journal familiarity and quality specific to their disciplines: marketing (Browne and Becker, 1977); sociology (Glenn, 1971)