Not all Journals are Created Equal

1. Not all Journals are Created Equal! Using Impact Factors to Assess the Impact of a Journal

2. Objectives: At the end of this talk, the participant will be able to: Define Impact Factor (IF) Explain how the impact factor relates to finding the "best" journal in which to publish. Find the impact factor of a journal using the LRC�s Electronic Resources

3. The man who started it all!Eugene Garfield Eugene GarfieldEugene Garfield

4. The article that got the ball rolling:

5. Why is this different? Based on law indexing (Shepard�s Citations) 1873 Subject indexes to scientific literature were in existence Garfield suggests that each article is given a code and all works that cited that article would be linked to the original article.

6. First mention of Impact Factor Garfield recommends keeping track of who cited the paper. �In effect, the system would provide a complete listing, for the publications covered, of all the original articles that had referred to the article in question.� � Such an �impact factor� may be much more indicative than an absolute count of a scientist's publications.� Here impact factor refers to the impact of the article.

8. Impact Factors for Journals In the early 1960�s Irving H. Sher and Eugene Garfield created the Journal Impact Factor to help select journals for Science Citation Index (SCI). They knew that a core group of highly cited large journals needed to be covered in SCI, but they also wanted to include the small, but important review journals which would not be included if they relied only on publication or citation counts. Created the Journal Impact Factor

9. Journal Impact Factor Formula The number of times articles published in (2 years) were cited by indexed journals

10. In Simpler Terms The impact factor is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals.

11. Other Methods Eigenfactor H Index (or H factor) Immediacy index

12. Eigenfactor Developed by Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom at the University of Washington, Journals are rated according to the number of incoming citations, with citations from highly-ranked journals weighted to make a larger contribution to the Eigenfactor than those from poorly-ranked journals. Eigenfactor score scales with the size of a journal. To allow per-article comparisons using the Eigenfactor approach, the Article Influence score scales Eigenfactor score by the number of articles published by the journal and thus is directly comparable to impact factor.

13. Eigenfactor (cont) For more information, go to : http://Eigenfactor.org

14. H Factor or H Index Index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. A scholar with an index of h has published h papers each of which has been cited by others at least h times. Serves as an alternative to more traditional journal impact factor metrics in the evaluation of the impact of the work of a particular researcher

15. Immediacy index Measure of topicality and urgency of a scientific journal Number of times articles published in year x were cited in indexed journals during same year. Number of articles, reviews, proceedings or notes published in year x

16. What does it all mean?

17. How do Impact factors help you find the best journal in which to publish?

18. Limitations of the Impact Factor Self-citations Many times editors insist that authors cite works in that journal Some disciplines tend to cite more than others Journals change their names thus affecting impact factor for approximately two years Does not take into account negative citations

19. How do I find a journal impact factor? Use the LRC�s Electronic Resources to go to Web of Science Click on Additional Resources to find Journal Citation Reports

20. Journal Citation ReportsJCR JCR distills citation trend data for 10,000+ journals from more than 25 million cited references indexed by Thomson Reuters every year Science Edition and Social Sciences Edition released annually Science Edition covers 7,200+ journals in 171 subject categories Social Sciences Edition covers 2,100+ journals in 55 subject categories

21. First log in to ER and find Web of Science

22. Access JCR from the Web of Knowledge If your inst. Subscribes to the JCR, you will find it available from the WOK Homepage in the (*) �additional resources tab�. It is listed under �analytical tools� (*) Click on the Journal Citation reports link to move directly to the JCR If your inst. Subscribes to the JCR, you will find it available from the WOK Homepage in the (*) �additional resources tab�. It is listed under �analytical tools� (*) Click on the Journal Citation reports link to move directly to the JCR

23. Scenario I(We all have our dreams!) You have written an article and would like to have the most visibility possible. You have a choice between publishing in Science and Nature. Which should you choose, based on Impact Factor?

24. Search for individual journals

27. Subject Categories From the JCR Homepage, pick either the Science or the Social Science edition. * For this example we will view a group of Journals in the science edition by subject category. * You can also view a group of journal by Publisher, or country/territory. * Click Submit to view a list of subject categoriesFrom the JCR Homepage, pick either the Science or the Social Science edition. * For this example we will view a group of Journals in the science edition by subject category. * You can also view a group of journal by Publisher, or country/territory. * Click Submit to view a list of subject categories

28. View Journal data Next, make a selection of the category you wish to view. You can a select more than one category by holding down the control key. However, it is best to only select multiple categories if they are very similar as citation patterns may vary widely across disciplines. * For this example we will look at the subject category of �Pediatrics.� * Next, from the drop down list, select the way you would like to sort the list of journals. The default sort is by �Journal Title�, for this example we will sort by �impact factor.� * Then click submit to view a list of journalsNext, make a selection of the category you wish to view. You can a select more than one category by holding down the control key. However, it is best to only select multiple categories if they are very similar as citation patterns may vary widely across disciplines. * For this example we will look at the subject category of �Pediatrics.� * Next, from the drop down list, select the way you would like to sort the list of journals. The default sort is by �Journal Title�, for this example we will sort by �impact factor.� * Then click submit to view a list of journals

29. Sort journals in the category After clicking �Submit� You will be taken to the journal summary list for the subject category Pediatrics. * We chose to sort by impact factor, so that column is highlighted in yellow. * You can also resort by Journal title, total cites, immediacy index, number of articles, cited half-life, 5 Year Impact Factor, Eigenfactor score and ArticleInfluence score The highest impact journal is the �JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY � with an impact factor of 4.845 * For this example we will take a closer look at the �Journal of Pediatrics�, the journal with the fourth highest impact factor. Click on the journal name abbreviation to move to the full journal record. After clicking �Submit� You will be taken to the journal summary list for the subject category Pediatrics. * We chose to sort by impact factor, so that column is highlighted in yellow. * You can also resort by Journal title, total cites, immediacy index, number of articles, cited half-life, 5 Year Impact Factor, Eigenfactor score and ArticleInfluence score The highest impact journal is the �JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY � with an impact factor of 4.845 * For this example we will take a closer look at the �Journal of Pediatrics�, the journal with the fourth highest impact factor. Click on the journal name abbreviation to move to the full journal record.

30. Full Record Page �Journal of Pediatrics� has an impact factor of 4.122. To see how the impact factor was calculated for this journal click directly on the number *�Journal of Pediatrics� has an impact factor of 4.122. To see how the impact factor was calculated for this journal click directly on the number *

31. A journal might have been assigned several categories, like �Birth issues in Perinatal care�, it is in (*) 3 different categories. The value of its Impact factor is unique for 2008, because it will be compared with different journals, its rank in these 3 different categories will vary. The (*) Journal ranking feature can help put these rankings in perspective.A journal might have been assigned several categories, like �Birth issues in Perinatal care�, it is in (*) 3 different categories. The value of its Impact factor is unique for 2008, because it will be compared with different journals, its rank in these 3 different categories will vary. The (*) Journal ranking feature can help put these rankings in perspective.

32. Journal Rank in categories This table provides us with a quick view of the different rankings an Impact factor of 2.836 will give that Journal in the categories assigned to it. We can see here that the Journal is consistently (*) in the first quartile of the best Journals in these categories. (*) It is first out of 60 Journals in Nursing while thirteenth out of 61 in Obstetrics and ninth out of 86 in Pediatrics.This table provides us with a quick view of the different rankings an Impact factor of 2.836 will give that Journal in the categories assigned to it. We can see here that the Journal is consistently (*) in the first quartile of the best Journals in these categories. (*) It is first out of 60 Journals in Nursing while thirteenth out of 61 in Obstetrics and ninth out of 86 in Pediatrics.

33. To provide one the ability to easily compare self-citation rates among journals particularly as this influences Impact factor calculations. Journal self citations � Journal self citation is not inherently a bad practice. Authors of course cite related research and this may have been published in the journal to which one in turn submits a paper for publication. Journals with a very specialized subject focus may naturally display significant rates of self-citation. However, 80% of all journals listed in the JCR Science Edition have self-citation rates of less than 20%. Based on trends within a category we can get an idea of what may be excessive self-citation, which weakens the integrity of the journal�s Impact Factor. One of the new features in Journal Citation Reports is the ability to illuminate journal self-citation rates to provide one the ability to easily compare self-citation rates among journals, particularly as this influences the Impact Factor calculation. You can see here that for this particular journal there are detailed statistics of the overall citations and those which are self-citations, and also a re-calculation (*) of the Impact Factor with those self-citations removed. Journal self citations � Journal self citation is not inherently a bad practice. Authors of course cite related research and this may have been published in the journal to which one in turn submits a paper for publication. Journals with a very specialized subject focus may naturally display significant rates of self-citation. However, 80% of all journals listed in the JCR Science Edition have self-citation rates of less than 20%. Based on trends within a category we can get an idea of what may be excessive self-citation, which weakens the integrity of the journal�s Impact Factor. One of the new features in Journal Citation Reports is the ability to illuminate journal self-citation rates to provide one the ability to easily compare self-citation rates among journals, particularly as this influences the Impact Factor calculation. You can see here that for this particular journal there are detailed statistics of the overall citations and those which are self-citations, and also a re-calculation (*) of the Impact Factor with those self-citations removed.

34. Category Impact Data For more context regarding the impact factor for the Journal of Pediatrics you can also view the Median and Aggregate impact factor data for the category of Pediatrics. * From the full journal record, click on �View Category Data� to move to more information about the Subject Category Pediatrics. For more context regarding the impact factor for the Journal of Pediatrics you can also view the Median and Aggregate impact factor data for the category of Pediatrics. * From the full journal record, click on �View Category Data� to move to more information about the Subject Category Pediatrics.

35. Category Data � Median and Aggregate Impact Factors The Median Impact Factor for the subject category of Pediatrics is 1.252 The Aggregate Impact Factor for Pediatrics is 1.932 For Pediatrics, the median, or middle, Impact Factor for the entire category is 1.252 * The Aggregate Impact Factor for Pediatrics is 1.932 * The Aggregate Impact Factor (*) is calculated by dividing all 2008 citation of items published in 2007 and 2006 in this category by the total number of articles and reviews published in 2006 and 2007 in this category * In the case of Pediatrics there were 44688 citations to recent published items and 23136 articles/reviews published in 2006/2007 for an (*) aggregate Impact factor of 1.932For Pediatrics, the median, or middle, Impact Factor for the entire category is 1.252 * The Aggregate Impact Factor for Pediatrics is 1.932 * The Aggregate Impact Factor (*) is calculated by dividing all 2008 citation of items published in 2007 and 2006 in this category by the total number of articles and reviews published in 2006 and 2007 in this category * In the case of Pediatrics there were 44688 citations to recent published items and 23136 articles/reviews published in 2006/2007 for an (*) aggregate Impact factor of 1.932

36. Access to JCR from the Web of Science If your institutions subscribes to both the Web of Science and JCR in the Web of Knowledge, then easy access to a journal�s impact factor is available from the full record view in the Web of Science Simply click on the link to Journal Citation Reports on the right hand dashboard (*). Remember, this will allow you to view information about the journal and not about any one article. If your institutions subscribes to both the Web of Science and JCR in the Web of Knowledge, then easy access to a journal�s impact factor is available from the full record view in the Web of Science Simply click on the link to Journal Citation Reports on the right hand dashboard (*). Remember, this will allow you to view information about the journal and not about any one article.

37. Impact Factor Trend Graph When you move to the JCR from the Web of Science, you will be taken directly to a five year impact factor trend graph for the journals. This graph shows the impact factor as calculated in each of the past five years. * You can move to a page with more information about this journal by clicking the return to journal button at the top of the page. When you move to the JCR from the Web of Science, you will be taken directly to a five year impact factor trend graph for the journals. This graph shows the impact factor as calculated in each of the past five years. * You can move to a page with more information about this journal by clicking the return to journal button at the top of the page.

38. Using JCR Wisely You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data are not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format, publication schedule, and subject specialty. The number of articles given for journals listed in JCR include primarily original research and review articles. Editorials, letters, news items, and meeting abstracts are usually not included in article counts because they are not generally cited. Journals published in non-English languages or using non-Roman alphabets may be less accessible to researchers worldwide, which can influence their citation patterns. This should be taken into account in any comparative journal citation analysis. You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data are not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format, publication schedule, and subject specialty. The number of articles given for journals listed in JCR include primarily original research and review articles. Editorials, letters, news items, and meeting abstracts are usually not included in article counts because they are not generally cited. Journals published in non-English languages or using non-Roman alphabets may be less accessible to researchers worldwide, which can influence their citation patterns. This should be taken into account in any comparative journal citation analysis. For more information about how JCR is produced and factors affecting JCR data, please the Help File.You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data are not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format, publication schedule, and subject specialty. The number of articles given for journals listed in JCR include primarily original research and review articles. Editorials, letters, news items, and meeting abstracts are usually not included in article counts because they are not generally cited. Journals published in non-English languages or using non-Roman alphabets may be less accessible to researchers worldwide, which can influence their citation patterns. This should be taken into account in any comparative journal citation analysis. For more information about how JCR is produced and factors affecting JCR data, please the Help File.