The functions of college bulletins viewed from the publishing and citing patterns of research papers in economics and education

The functions of college bulletins in Japan are investigated on the basis of a research on the relative importance of them to other academic serials. The authors examine the proportion of the college bulletins in the total number of papers published by professors and lecturers majoring in economics or education, and the proportion of the same as above in the total number of citations noted in papers published by them as well. The findings are as follows: 1) As a whole, papers in the college bulletins are cited no less than the ones in other academic serials. This means that papers in college bulletins are not of so lower quality as previously considered. 2) The prestige of college bulletins seems to have some variety among the universities or colleges which edit and publish them. 3) Professors and lecturers in economics are more likely to use college bulletins both in publishing and in citing than their colleagues in education. This implies that the prestige of college bulletins are different depending on research disciplines. 4) It is frequently observed that the one's paper in a college bulletin is cited later in other papers of the same author's. Taking into consideration this factor, the authors conclude that the relative importance of college bulletins is to be much smaller than known at first.