Measuring Research Impact

This guide provides an introduction to the information and issues regarding researcher and journal impact

Measuring Journal Impact

Some journals are more highly read and cited than others.  Measuring the impact of a journal can help authors identify which publications will be most relevant and get the most visibility for their research. Journal impact measures vary between disciplines due to differing citation behavior and cannot be directly compared.  Typically, researchers in a discipline will have the best sense of the top journals in their field.

JCR Tips

  1. When searching for a journal title, be exact. For example, JCR does not understand that "&" is synonymous with "and". If you don't find the title the first time, try tweaking the title and searching again, or try searching by Title Word instead of Full Journal Title.
  2. JCR is NOT comprehensive.  Impact Factor is a trademarked tool of Clarivate Analytics, so the Impact Factor of a journal cannot be obtained from any other source.  If it isn't in JCR, the Impact Factor doesn't exist.
  3. Impact Factor indicates the influence a journal has on other scholarly published literature. It cannot demonstrate the influence of research on policy, practice, or the public.
  4. Impact Factor is not a direct measure of quality, and applies only at journal level; it should not be extended to judge the influence of an individual article, researcher, or institution.
  5. JCR cannot be used to compare journals across disciplines.

Metrics for non-JCR journals