The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of academic journals: the case of Turkey

Abstract Since the beginning of 2020, “Covid-19” has affected the whole world in an unprecedented way in modern times. It is inevitable that this pandemic, which has negatively affected many fields, will also have an impact on academic journals. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of academic journals. In our study, a “Data Envelopment Analysis” methodology with 3 inputs and 3 outputs was used to determine the relative “performance of the journals”. Within the scope of the study, 109 journals published in “Turkey” and scanned in “Web of Science” indexes were examined. Results show that eleven journals were efficient in 2019, while in 2020 this number decreased to seven. Four fields have been positively affected by the pandemic and journals publishing in these fields have increased their efficiencies. Eighteen fields were adversely affected by the pandemic and the efficiency of journal publishing in these fields decreased. Eleven fields and journals publishing in these fields maintained their efficiency both before and during the pandemic. As the Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet, our data is limited. In the coming years, more detailed and comprehensive studies can be carried out with more extensive data and a further number of journals from different countries.