Assessing the Journal of Western Archives

Purpose This paper introduces and describes analytical tools that can be used to assess the performance of academic journals and related publications. Design/methodology/approach The authors utilized four different assessment tools to analyze how well the Journal of Western Archives was meeting the needs of its target audience. Each tool provided a different view of the journal's performance and together provided a holistic view of that performance. Findings The authors found that corpus analysis, author analysis, reader analysis and citation analysis are useful tools for assessing the success of academic journals and related publications. In combination, they provide a holistic view of the performance of an academic journal. Practical implications The study provides a suite of tools for analyzing the performance of academic journals and other publications. Originality/value This paper shows how combining multiple assessment tools leads to a more holistic understanding of the performance of academic journals and other publications. It provides editors with a roadmap for assessing the performance of the academic journals and other publications that they have responsibility for.