Impact factor volatility due to a single paper: A comprehensive analysis

Reward Mechanism ◽

The Impact ◽

Highly Cited ◽

We study how a single paper affects the impact factor (IF) of a journal by analyzing data from 3,088,511 papers published in 11639 journals in the 2017 Journal Citation Reports of Clarivate Analytics. We find that IFs are highly volatile. For example, the top-cited paper of 381 journals caused their IF to increase by more than 0.5 points, while for 818 journals the relative increase exceeded 25%. One in 10 journals had their IF boosted by more than 50% by their top three cited papers. Because the single-paper effect on the IF is inversely proportional to journal size, small journals are rewarded much more strongly than large journals for a highly cited paper, while they are penalized more for a low-cited paper, especially if their IF is high. This skewed reward mechanism incentivizes high-IF journals to stay small to remain competitive in rankings. We discuss the implications for breakthrough papers appearing in prestigious journals. We question the reliability of IF rankings given the high IF sensitivity to a few papers that affects thousands of journals.

Recognizing high impact in acarological research

Systematic and Applied Acarology ◽

10.11158/saa.23.7.16 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (7) ◽

pp. 1494

Author(s):

Zhi-Qiang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

High Impact ◽

Highly Cited Papers ◽

The Impact ◽

Highly Cited ◽

The impact factor for Systematic and Applied Acarology (SAA) in 2017 was announced in the latest release (June 2018) of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) from Clarivate Analytics. I take this opportunity to comment on the growth of SAA’s impact factor and recognize the top 10 most highly cited papers that contributed greatly it. I also introduce the James Allen McMurtry Award, recently instituted by the Systematic and Applied Acarology Society to recognize acarologists who have made outstanding contributions to systematic and/or applied acarology.

The Impact Factor and APAQ

Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly ◽

10.1123/apaq.18.2.119 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 119-126

Author(s):

Greg Reid ◽

Dale A. Ulrich

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Impact Factor ◽

Objective Measure ◽

Sport Science ◽

Time Period ◽

The Impact ◽

The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period (Journal Citation Reports; http://jcr.isihost.com). Specifically, it is the ratio of the number of articles from the journal cited over a given time period to the number of articles published by that journal during the same period. It is an objective measure of the journal’s importance, especially when compared to others in the same field. The purpose of the present study was to compare the impact factor of APAQ to 11 other journals in sport science, special education, and rehabilitation. The impact factor of APAQ compares quite favorably to most other journals in sport science, special education, and rehabilitation. However, it is strikingly different in 1998 and 1999, and therefore scholars should monitor it closely in the next few years while remembering it is only one estimate of journal prestige.

Significant impact of developing countries and emerging markets in Systematic and Applied Acarology

Systematic and Applied Acarology ◽

10.11158/saa.24.7.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (7) ◽

pp. 1121-1123

Author(s):

Zhi-Qiang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Emerging Markets ◽

Impact Factor ◽

Impact Factors ◽

Number Of Publications ◽

The Impact ◽

Journal Impact ◽

Journal impact factors for 2018 were recently announced by Clarivate Analytics in the June 2019 edition of Journal Citation Reports (JCR). In this editorial, I compared the impact factor of Systematic and Applied Acarology (SAA) with those of other main acarological journals as I did in Zhang (2017). Following Zhang (2018a), I also highlighted the top 10 SAA papers from 2016/2017 with the highest numbers of citations in 2018 (according to JCR June 2019 edition). In addition, I remarked on the increasing impact of developing countries and emerging markets in systematic and applied acarology, both in the number of publications and citations, and also include announcements of meetings on applied acarology.

Distributional differences of the impact factor in the sciences versus the social sciences: An analysis of the probabilistic structure of the 2005 journal citation reports

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology ◽

10.1002/asi.20810 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 59 (9) ◽

pp. 1366-1382 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Stephen J. Bensman

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Impact Factor ◽

The Social ◽

Probabilistic Structure ◽

The Impact ◽

The 2011 Journal Citation Reports and the impact factor of the Journal of Applied Oral Science

Journal of Applied Oral Science ◽

10.1590/s1678-77572012000300001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

Carlos F. Santos

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

The Impact ◽

Hypothetical influence of non-indexed Spanish medical journals on the impact factor of the Journal Citation Reports-indexed journals

Scientometrics ◽

10.1007/s11192-007-0104-x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

pp. 53-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent ◽

Juan Carlos Valderrama Zurián ◽

Alberto Miguel-Dasit ◽

Adolfo Alonso Arroyo ◽

Miguel Castellano Gómez

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

Medical Journals ◽

The Impact ◽

Influence of the top 10 journal publishers listed in Journal Citation Reports based on six indicators

Science Editing ◽

10.6087/kcse.209 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 142-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sang-Jun Kim ◽

Kay Sook Park

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

Research Process ◽

World Journal ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Research Libraries ◽

Starting Point ◽

Average Share ◽

The Impact ◽

Purpose: : An accurate evaluation of the influence of the largest publishers in world journal publishing is a starting point for negotiating journal subscriptions and an important issue for research libraries. This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of the largest publishers based on Journal Citation Reports (JCR) indicators.Methods: From JCR 2014 to 2018 data, a unique journal list by publisher was created in Excel. The top 10 publishers were selected and evaluated in terms of the average share of six JCR indicators including the impact factor, Eigenfactor score, and article influence score, along with the number of journals, articles, and citations.Results: The top three publishers accounted for about 50% of the JCR indicators, the top five for 60%, and the top 10 for 70%. Therefore, the concentration of the top three publishers, with a share exceeding 50% for five indicators, was more intensive than has been reported in previous studies. For the top 10 publishers, not only the number of journals and articles, but also citations and the impact factor, which reflect the practical use of journals, were increasing.Conclusion: These evaluation results will be important to research libraries and librarians in deciding upon journal subscriptions using publisher information, to journal publishers trying to list their journals in JCR, and to consortium operators to negotiate strategically. Using the unique journal list created in this research process, various follow-up studies are possible. However, it is also urgent to build a standardized world journal list with accurate information.

Grim tales about the impact factor and the h-index in the Web of Science and the Journal Citation Reports databases: reflections on Vanclay’s criticism

Scientometrics ◽

10.1007/s11192-012-0769-7 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 92 (2) ◽

pp. 325-354 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Peter Jacso

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

Web Of Science ◽

H Index ◽

The Impact ◽

The Web ◽

Repräsentanz von Pflegewissenschaftlerinnen und Pflegewissenschaftlern aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum in Zeitschriften mit hohem Impact Factor

Pflege ◽

10.1024/1012-5302/a000593 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 31-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Julian Hirt ◽

Christian Buhtz ◽

Benedikt Mersdorf ◽

Gabriele Meyer

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

High Impact ◽

Zusammenfassung.Hintergrund: Die Häufigkeit pflegewissenschaftlicher Beiträge aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum in Zeitschriften mit hohem Impact Factor gibt Hinweise auf die Teilhabe der Disziplin am internationalen Diskurs. Bisherige Analysen beschränken sich auf pflegewissenschaftliche Zeitschriften. Diese konstatieren eine Unterrepräsentanz experimenteller Studien und klinischer Themen. Ziel: Identifikation und Analyse der Publikationen von im deutschsprachigen Raum ansässigen Pflegewissenschaftlerinnen/Pflegewissenschaftlern in internationalen pflegerelevanten High Impact Journals. Methode: Mittels Journal Citation Reports wurden pflegerelevante Zeitschriftenkategorien identifiziert, in denen die nach dem 5-Jahres-Impact-Factor höchsten 10 % der Zeitschriften der Jahre 2010 bis 2014 ausgewählt wurden. Der Einschluss der Publikationen und die Datenextraktion erfolgten durch zwei unabhängige Personen. Ergebnisse: Durchsucht wurden 106939 Publikationen aus 126 Zeitschriften. Eingeschlossen wurden 100 Publikationen, an denen 114 Pflegewissenschaftler/-innen aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum insgesamt 229 Mal beteiligt sind. Insgesamt 42 % sind Beobachtungsstudien, 11 % sind experimentelle Studien. Die berichteten Themen sind mehrheitlich klinisch orientiert (55 %). Über 50 % sind in den letzten zwei Jahren publiziert worden. Schlussfolgerungen: Das pflegewissenschaftliche Publikationsaufkommen aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum in High Impact Journals ist gering. Eine Zunahme über den Beobachtungszeitraum ist zu verzeichnen. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Analysen zeigt sich ein höherer Anteil klinischer Forschung.

Bibliometric analysis of multi-language veterinary journals

Transinformação ◽

10.1590/2318-08892017000300011 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 343-353

Author(s):

Erwin KRAUSKOPF ◽

Fernanda GARCIA ◽

Robert FUNK

Keyword(s):

Impact Factor ◽

Bibliometric Analysis ◽

Web Of Science ◽

Country Of Origin ◽

Citation Distribution ◽

The Subject ◽

Number Of Citations ◽

The Impact ◽

Main Language

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between language and total number of citations found among documents in journals written in English and other languages. We selected all the journals clustered together in the Journal Citation Reports 2014 under the subject category “Veterinary Sciences” and downloaded all the data registered between 1994-2013 by Web of Science for the journals that stated publishing documents in languages other than English. We classified each of these journals by quartile and extracted information regarding their impact factor, language(s) stated, country of origin, total number of documents published, total number of reviews published, percentage of documents published in English and the quartile in which each journal ranked. Of the 48,118 documents published by the 28 journals analyzed, 55.8% were published in English. Interestingly, although most of the journals state being multi-language, most documents published in quartile 1 journals were in English (an average of 99.2%), while the percentage was 93.1% in quartile 2 journals, 62.1% in quartile 3 journals and 27.4% in quartile 4 journals. We also confirmed that citation distribution in these journals was highly skewed. The results of this study suggest that journals should consider adopting English as the main language as this will increase citation counts and the impact factor of the journal.