The percentile of a scientific journal is an indicator used to evaluate its rating compared to other journals in its subject area. It is expressed as a number from 1 to 99 and shows what percentage of journals a journal exceeds in a particular indicator, such as citation.
For example, a journal with a percentile of 99 is in the top 1% of the most cited journals in its field. This means that 99% of the other journals in the field are cited less frequently.
How is the percentile calculated?
All journals in Scopus are divided into specific subject areas. In each of these areas, journals are ranked by CiteScore. Thus, the journal is assigned a percentile that shows how many other journals in the same subject area have a lower CiteScore.
The CiteScore is the average of the number of citations of articles published in a journal over 3 years divided by the number of articles published in that journal during that period.
When the percentile is not calculated for a journal?
The percentile is not calculated in the following situations:
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when a scientific journal was accepted to Scopus earlier than 3 years ago (in this case, everything is quite clear, since there is not enough data for the calculation);
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when a scientific journal has been excluded from Scopus.
In all other situations, this indicator can be calculated without any problems.
What is a percentile for?
Percentiles are used by researchers to assess the impact of journals and to make decisions about where to publish their research. Journals with high percentiles are usually considered more prestigious, so publishing in them can increase the visibility of a study and improve the author's reputation.
Percentiles and quartiles
We have already considered what a percentile is, but we should mention another important indicator - the quartile.
The journal quartile is a scientometrics indicator that reflects the level of citation of a journal. It is calculated once a year for publications included in such scientometrics databases as Scopus and Web of Science.
All journals are divided into 4 groups (quartiles):
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Q1 (99-75 percentile): I quartile. The journal belongs to the top 25% of the most authoritative journals in its field.
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Q2 (74-50 percentile): II quartile. The journal belongs to the 26-50% of the most authoritative journals in its field.
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Q3 (49-25 percentile): III quartile. The journal belongs to 51-75% of the most authoritative journals in its field.
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Q4 (24-1 percentile): IV quartile. The journal belongs to 76-100% of the most authoritative journals in its field.
Where can I find the journal's percentile?
The percentile of a journal can be found on its Scopus page. To do this:
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Go to the Sources page in Scopus.
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Find the journal you need.
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Click the CiteScore tab.
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Find the value of CiteScore Percentile.
What percentile is considered good?
It depends on your subject area and the requirements of your institution. Generally, a percentile of 50 or higher is considered a good score.
Important points:
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A percentile does not provide information about the absolute number of citations of a journal.
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Percentiles are different for different subject areas.
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A journal's percentile may change over time.
A percentile is a useful metric that can be used to compare scientific journals. However, it is important to remember that it is not the only factor to consider when choosing a journal for publication.
If you want to get a guaranteed publication in journals with a high percentile, we recommend ordering the service "Publication of an article in Scopus" from Scientific Publications.
