Quick Guide to Journal Impact Factor: What Is It?

Impact Factor: A Key Metric for Evaluating Academic Journals

Whether you’re a researcher, student, or an academic professional, knowing how to interpret and identify Impact Factors is essential when navigating the world of scholarly publishing.

This guide is designed to serve as a starting point for understanding and locating journal Impact Factors. We will also explore how to access Impact Factor data, the tools available for locating it, and its significance in academic publishing.

What Is a Journal Impact Factor?

Definition
The Journal Impact Factor is a metric used to assess the importance of academic journals. In essence, it reflects the average number of times an article from that journal has been cited.

Calculation Method
The Impact Factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of citations received by articles published in that journal over a two-year period by the total number of citable items published in the same period.

Data Provider
Impact Factors are provided by Clarivate Analytics and are based on citation data indexed in the Web of Science database.

Where to Find IFs
Impact Factors are typically listed in the journal information section or in the databases that index academic journals. Major databases like Web of Science and Scopus provide access to this data.

Using IFs
You can use the Impact Factor to evaluate or compare a journal’s significance relative to others in the same field. It also offers insight into how frequently articles in a journal are cited, which can help guide your decisions on which journals to read, cite, or submit to.

Why Impact Factors Matter

Quality Indicator:
As a measure of how frequently journal articles are cited, the Impact Factor serves as a proxy for journal quality and influence within a discipline.
Decision-Making Tool:
For both authors deciding where to submit their work and publishers managing journals, the IF is a critical benchmark in the academic publishing process.
Global Academic Influence:
More than just a number, the IF reflects a journal’s role and influence within the global research community, particularly in terms of contributing to scientific and scholarly advancement.

What Is Considered a High Impact Factor?

Field-Specific Benchmarks

What counts as a high IF depends on the academic discipline. In some fields, an IF above 3 is considered high; in others, the threshold may be significantly higher.

Relative Comparisons

Impact Factors are best interpreted in the context of a specific field. Comparing IFs across different disciplines can be misleading.

How to Find a Journal’s Impact Factor

Research Databases:
Use databases like Web of Science or Scopus to obtain accurate Impact Factor (IF) data.

Journal Websites:
Many journals list their IF on their official websites, typically in the “About” or “Journal Metrics” sections.

Library Resources:
Academic libraries often provide tools for looking up journal IFs. Many subscribe to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database, enabling users to find the IF of specific journals and assess their quality.

Journal Citation Reports (JCR):
Since its 2021 redesign, the JCR database offers a streamlined way to check a journal’s IF and its ranking within its field.

Clarivate Analytics:
In June 2023, Clarivate released the 2022 edition of the JCR, which includes the latest IF data for journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI).

Clarivate Official Website:
Beyond IFs, JCR also provides information about open access content and submission data for authors, helping users better understand a journal’s role and influence in the global research community.

Additional Notes

Evolving Metrics:
The IF is just one of many metrics. Newer indicators like the h-index and Altmetrics offer alternative perspectives on journal and article impact.
Criticisms of IF:
Be aware of ongoing criticism surrounding the IF, such as its potential to incentivize citation manipulation and its limitations in assessing true research impact:

Misleading Focus on Journal-Level Metrics: IF reflects the average citation performance of a journal, not the quality or impact of individual articles. A highly cited journal can still publish many articles with little to no influence.
Neglect of Long-Term and Real-World Impact: IF counts short-term citations (typically within two years) and ignores long-term contributions, policy influence, industry adoption, or societal benefits—failing to capture broader or delayed research impact.
Lack of Cross-Disciplinary and Societal Relevance Consideration: IF favors high-citation fields and overlooks valuable research in slower-moving or interdisciplinary areas. It also misses public engagement, media attention, or practical applications that extend beyond academic citations.

Regular Database Updates:
JCR and similar platforms update their data regularly, making them valuable tools for tracking journal trends and influence.
Critical Thinking Is Key:
While the IF is a useful benchmark, it should be interpreted alongside other metrics and approached with a critical mindset to avoid over-reliance.

These insights highlight the central role of IF in scholarly publishing, and are particularly useful for researchers, scholars, publishers, and librarians seeking to evaluate and leverage this important metric.