This article analyses special issues, also referred to as thematic issues, monographic issues, or supplements, a mode of scientific journal publishing that has rarely been studied. It presents a bibliometric analysis of the production of journals in the field of communication in the period 2015–2019 and studies the impact of the publication of special issues in this field. The sample analysed includes 21,458 articles and reviews, 524 special issues, 418 publishers, and 94 journals. The study considers the presence of special issues in communication journals and the distribution and number of papers published in them and compares the impact of papers published in this mode with papers published in regular issues. The results reveal that 19% of articles and reviews published in the period studied appeared in special issues, which generally contain the same number of articles as regular issues. Moreover, 75% of journals achieved a higher average impact factor with articles published in special issues than they did with articles in regular issues. It is concluded that the publication of special issues appears to offer the potential benefits of attracting submissions, increasing profits, and improving impact, although it also has disadvantages. A reflection is offered on the strengths and weaknesses of this publishing practice.

中文翻译：

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2015-2019 年通讯期刊特刊的普遍性和影响

本文分析了特刊，也称为专题刊、专题刊或增刊，这是一种很少被研究的科学期刊出版模式。它对 2015-2019 年期间传播领域期刊的产生进行了文献计量分析，并研究了该领域特刊出版的影响。分析的样本包括 21,458 篇文章和评论、524 期特刊、418 家出版商和 94 种期刊。该研究考虑了传播期刊中特刊的存在以及在其中发表的论文的分布和数量，并将以这种模式发表的论文与常规期刊发表的论文的影响进行了比较。结果显示，在研究期间发表的文章和评论中有 19% 出现在特刊中，通常包含与常规问题相同数量的文章。此外，75% 的期刊在特刊上发表的文章的平均影响因子高于在常规期上发表的文章。结论是，特刊的出版似乎提供了吸引投稿、增加利润和提高影响力的潜在好处，尽管它也有缺点。对这种出版实践的优点和缺点进行了反思。并提高影响力，尽管它也有缺点。对这种出版实践的优点和缺点进行了反思。并提高影响力，尽管它也有缺点。对这种出版实践的优点和缺点进行了反思。