Part 1

Journal metrics

Journal Ranking

1955 Eugene Garfield - the idea of creating a citation

index for science to…

Journal Ranking

“eliminate the uncritical citation of fraudulent, incomplete or obsolete data by making it possible for the conscientious scholar to be aware

of criticisms of earlier papers.”Garfield, E (1955) ‘Citation Indexes for Science’ Science, New Series, Vol. 122, No. 3159, pp. 108-111

Journal Ranking1955 Eugene Garfield - the idea of measuring the “impact” of journal articles using citations

Journal Ranking1955 Eugene Garfield - the idea of measuring the “impact” of journal articles using citations

1960s Science Citation Index developed to highlight “formal, explicit linkages between papers that have particular points in common”

Journal Ranking1955 Eugene Garfield - the idea of measuring the “impact” of journal articles using citations

1960s Science Citation Index developed to highlight “formal, explicit linkages between papers that have particular points in common”

1975 Journal Citation Reports – uses WoS data to rank journals within disciplines

Journal Citation Reports

• JCRs – annual publication of journals, their impact factors and other metrics.• 10,675 titles had JIFs in 2011

Science and Social Science editions• A journal that is cited once, on

average, for each article published has a JIF of 1.

Journal Citation Reports

Citations in 2012 to all articles published by Journal X in 2011

& 2010

Number of articles that were published in Journal

X in 2011 & 2010

Journal X’s 2012 impac

t factor

=

Journal Impact Factor

Citations in 2012 (in journals indexed in Web of Science) to

all articles published by Journal X in 2011 & 2010

Number of articles (deemed to be citable by

Web of Science) that were published in Journal

X in 2011 & 2010

Journal X’s 2012 impac

t factor

=

Journal Impact Factor

Journal Ranking

(2008) Taylor and Francis LibSite Newsletter, issue 9. p. 2

Journal Ranking

(2008) Taylor and Francis LibSite Newsletter, issue 9. p. 2

The average JIF in one discipline will vary

considerably to that in another.

Journal Ranking

(2008) Taylor and Francis LibSite Newsletter, issue 9. p. 2

You cannot compare a journal in one field of

study to that in another field of study based

upon their respective JIF.

Journal Ranking

(2008) Taylor and Francis LibSite Newsletter, issue 9. p. 3

Journal Ranking

(2008) Taylor and Francis LibSite Newsletter, issue 9. p. 3

Even within a single discipline, it is difficult

to make a generalisation or

comparison across different subjects.

What you can ask…

Am I more likely to attract more citations (and assumedly reach a larger audience) in a journal with a higher JIF than a journal with a

lower JIF?

What you can ask…

Has this article attracted more , or less, citations than the average number of citations an article in the same journal might attract?

Other journal impact metrics

• Eigenfactor - http://www.eigenfactor.org/ –Web of Science data

• SCImagoJR - http://www.scimagojr.com/ – Scopus data– Includes country ranking

Image Credits[Slide 1] Via Flickr Creative Commons, by emdot. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35237093637@N01/56156364