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Research Impact: Journal Impact

Journal Impact

The commonly metrics measuring journal impact include:

  • Journal Impact Factor in Journal Citation Report
  • Citescore, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) in Scopus
  • h5-index, h5-median, top 100 list of journals in Google Scholar.

Journal metrics on Databases / online resources

Journal Metrics in Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

 

Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

  • JIF is a journal-level metric calculated from data indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.
  • JIF is defined as all citations to the journal in the current JCR year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of scholarly items (these comprise articles, reviews, and proceedings papers) published in the journal in the previous two year.
     
  • Example

    2021 JIF of the journal "The Lancet"

Journal Citation Indicator (JCI)

  • JCI is the average Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) of citable items (article & reviews) published by a journal over a recent three year period.
  • The average JCI in a category is 1.

Further reading: Introducing the Journal Citation Indicator: A new, field-normalized measurement of journal citation impact

 

Fining Journal Metrics in Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

By Journal Title

  1. Go to Journal Citation Reports and select "Journals".
  2. Key in the name of journal title and conduct a search.

     
  3. You can view the JIF and other journal metrics details in the record. JIF trend in last 5 JCR years are also available.

 

Journal Ranking in specific subject area

  1. Go to Journal Citation Reports and select "Journals".
  2. Click "Filter"
  3. Under "Categories", search a subject area and then click "Apply".

     
  4. You can see the journal ranking by JIF in the subject selected.

 

References: Journal Citation Reports (Learning, Clarivate)

Journal Metrics in Scopus

 

CiteScore

  • CiteScore measures average citations received per document published in the serial.
  • CiteScore is calculated based on the number of citations to documents (articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers) by a journal over four years, divided by the number of the same document types indexed in Scopus and published in those same four years. It is calculated on an annual basis.
     
  • Example

 

CiteScore Tracker

  • CiteScore Tracker is calculated in the same way as CiteScore, but for the current year rather than pervious, complete years.
  • It is updated every month, as a current indication of a title's performance.

SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)

  • SJR measures weighted citations received by the serial. Citation weighting depends on subject field, quality and reputation of the journal.
  • A citation from a source with a relatively high SJR is worth more than a citation from a source with a lower SJR.

Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)

  • Source Normalized Impact per Paper is the ratio of a source's average citation count per paper and the citation potential of its subject field. The citation potential of a source's subject field is the average number of references per document citing that source.


Further reading: Changes to SNIP & SJR metrics - Explanations of two citation indicators used to measure a journal's impact

 

Fining Journal Metrics in Scopus

By Journal Title

  1. Go to Scopus and select "Sources".
  2. Key in the name of journal title and conduct a search.

     
  3. Click on the journal title to view the journal metrics details.

 

Journal Ranking in specific subject area

  1. Go to Scopus and select "Sources".
  2. Search a subject area and click "Apply".

     
  3. You can see the journal ranking by CiteScore in the subject selected.

 

References: Metrics to show journal, article & author influence

Journal Metrics in Google Scholar

 

h5-index

  • h5-index is the h-index for articles published in the last 5 complete years. It is the largest number h such that h articles published in last 5 complete years have at least h citations each.
  • For example, the h5-index of a journal in 2022 is 200 means that 200 articles published in the journal in 2017-2021 have received at least 200 citations each.

 

h5-median

  • h5-median for a publication is the median number of citations for the articles that make up its h5-index.

 

Fining Journal Metrics in Google Scholar


Top 100 publications in different languages

  1. Go to Google Scholar and select "Metrics".
  2. Top cited publications over the last five years will be shown.
  3. Click "VIEW ALL". You can then filter the list by categories or languages.

 

By Journal Title

  1. Key in the name of journal title and conduct a search.

     
  2. Click on the h5-index number.

     
  3. You can check the h5-index and h5-median of the journal, and the subjects the journal are categorized in. Besides, you can see the top cited articles which published in the journal over the last 5 complete years and which papers have cited it.

 

References: Google Scholar Metrics