A lot of academic articles are published daily. And behind the management of this output are numerous academic journals. Within this busy publishing landscape, certain methods have been applied to distinguish between journals in terms of academic merit.
One of the most recognized methods is the use of a journal impact factor (JIF). A JIF is a metric used to rank journals in terms of importance. Essentially, it’s an easy way for researchers to identify the leading journals to submit their research to.
In this article, we’ll explain what a journal impact factor is and why you need one as a journal.
What is a journal impact factor?
The journal publishing landscape is a crowded place. The number of academic journals active in 2020 was 46,000, with that number increasing by at least 1% annually since. With such a staggering number of journals for authors to submit research to, it’s necessary to know which of those excel in academic merit.
A journal impact factor is a ranking assigned to journals, indicating their prestige or importance within academic publishing. Originally used as a tool to aid university librarians in acquiring journals, the quantitative metric became a way for researchers and the journals themselves to measure the academic success of a journal.
The JIF was created in 1975 by Eugene Garfield, the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). In 2016, when ISI was acquired by a different ownership, it was rebranded as Clarivate, which publishes the Journal Citation Report (JCR), where year-to-year information on JIFs can be found.
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How is it calculated?
A journal impact factor is calculated in a way that can confuse some people. Let’s break down the calculation step-by-step for journals.
- Identify the JCR year: This is the year for which you wish to calculate the impact factor of your journal.
- Count the total citations received: Add up all the citations received in the JCR year that specifically reference articles published by your journal during the two years before that year.
- Count the total citable items: Identify the total number of “citable items” (such as articles and reviews) that were published by your journal in the two years before the JCR year.
- Divide: Divide the total citations (from step 2) by the total citable items (from step 3) to get the impact factor for the JCR year.
So, if a journal’s impact factor is 3.67, that means that on average, each of the journal’s articles in the JCR year was cited 3.67 times. In essence, a JIF contrasts a journal’s citation impact with its output to produce a measure of achievement.
What is a good journal impact factor?
But what is a good journal impact factor for a journal? Well, it’s relative and depends on the scientific field. A high IF for one discipline may be average for another.
Generally, an IF of 3 or above is considered good. IFs of 10 or above are seen as excellent. However, the average score is less than 1. Because you should aim to get ahead of the curve as a journal, it’s best to aim above average.
Why your journal needs an impact factor
A journal impact factor is a widely recognized symbol of academic achievement. A higher JIF indicates that a journal’s articles are frequently cited. In turn, this frequency can be indicative of the quality and impact of a journal’s research output.
Researchers use JIFs to decide where to publish. If a journal has an impact factor, and a good one at that, then this will increase the journal’s visibility. Researchers will flock to that journal, increasing the number—and hopefully the quality of—submissions received.
In this sense, a journal impact factor isn’t just a static measure of achievement. It actively functions to improve a journal’s academic standing further, distinguishing it amongst a crowded publishing landscape.