Measuring Research 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.

Journal Impact Factor

By far the most recognized measure of a journal's reach is the Journal Impact Factor (also referred to as JIF or IF). The Impact Factor is an imperfect but widely-utilized measure of citations in a journal. It measures the frequency with which an average article in that journal is cited per year.

Tips for Using the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Database

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.

Another useful, and sometimes more impactful, measure that the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database provides is the "Journal Quartile."

Each journal in the JCR is organized into categories, and each of those categories is ranked based on the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). JCR utilizes quartiles within categories to demonstrate the top journals in each field.

Ranks by Quartile:

• Q1 = Top 25% of journals in that category
• Q2 = Top 50% of journals in that category
• And so on.

The JIF is a highly subjective number that cannot be compared across fields. Journal Quartiles, on the other hand, provide a quick way to demonstrate if your journal ranked at the top of your field. Journals can also appear in more than one category, and may be in a different quartile for each category.

This screenshot is for the journal Active Learning in Higher Education, which has a JIF of 3.8. Compared to other fields, such as medicine, that may be a low impact factor. But, this journal is in Q1 of the "Education and Educational Research" category in the JCR.

Not every journal will be listed in Clarivate's Journal Citation Report database, and therefore will not receive an impact factor. The following tools can help you measure the impact of a journal if it is not included in the JCR.