The Impact Factor indicator is used to assess the impact of the journal. The key units for measuring it are the number of articles, as well as their citation rate. Yet is the Impact Factor indicator an exhaustive criterion for evaluating the performance of a journal? The company «Scientific Publications» proposes to consider the features of this metric.
How to calculate the Impact Factor indicator?
The Impact Factor metric was first introduced by Eugene Garfield in 1955. The fundamental work of the author, which outlined the calculation method, was published in the journal Science. Now the metric is determined mainly for journals that are indexed in the Web of Science.
The impact factor is calculated every year. For example, to calculate the indicators for 2021, it is necessary to determine the number of articles in the journal understudy for 2019-2020 and the number of their citations at the end of 2021. It is important to wait until the end of the year for which the indicator is being calculated. After that, the number of citations is divided by the number of publications.
This method of determining the metric is used for its classic form - the two-year impact factor.
The Web of Science scientometric database publishes an analytical report on Impact Factor indicators called Journal Citation Reports each July.
In addition to the traditional two-year option, there is a five-year, ten-year and immediacy (1 year) impact factor. The use of these types of metrics is explained by the specifics of a particular research area. For example, for the humanities and social sciences, a publication window of two years is a very short period of time.
How do I find the Impact Factor?
The impact factor is not determined for all publications of the Web of Science Core Collection, but only for the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) or Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).
The impact factor is not calculated for Web of Science Core Collection publications belonging to the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). This is due to a number of factors. For example, the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) journals do not have the impact and rating indicators by which the impact factor is measured. For the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) journals, this indicator is not calculated due to the specifics of the research area.
To find out which specific journals have an impact factor in the Web of Science scientometric database, a special search filter can be used.
Detailed information on the Impact Factor with in-depth analysis is available in the Journal Impact Factor profile when clicking on Journal Impact Factor.
Impact Factor: pros and cons
Disadvantages of the metric:
➤ The metric is not universal. The same impact factor indicator can be high for one subject area and insignificant for another. Therefore, in addition to the impact factor, the quartile of the journal is also considered.
➤ It is not assigned to all journals. Therefore, the Journal Citation Indicator metric was recently introduced.
➤ Sometimes, a two- or five-year period of analysis is not enough to display reliable and objective information on the influence of a journal. For specific subject areas, it is reasonable to consider citation levels over decades.
➤ The number of citations and articles does not always give an objective idea of the journal's activities and its quality.
Advantages of the metric:
➤ It is a simple and clear indicator for the unified assessment of journals.
➤ It can not be calculated for some types of journals, but nevertheless, it is assigned to a large number of publications (over 8,000 from 60 countries of the world).
Impact Factor Analogues
Scientometric databases often calculate metrics that are essentially similar to Impact Factor. But the method of its determination described above is the official development of the Web of Science.
Sometimes the use of other «impact factors» may indicate scientific dishonesty of publications or databases.
If you need assistance with the publication of a scientific article, including publications in the international scientometric databases Scopus and Web of Science, the specialists at «Scientific Publications» will be happy to advise you! Submit an application on the website or contact us in any way convenient for you, and our specialists will respond to your request within one business day.
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