The scientific field relies on precision, numerous checks, and clear criteria, so it's not surprising that it's important to consider various factors for writing and popularizing research work to help scientists advance in their careers. Among the tools worth paying attention to are metrics of work success. In this article, we'll talk about the impact factor and its significance for science.
What are scientific metrics and impact factor?
Scientific metrics are tools for tracking the influence of research. The impact factor is one example of a scientometric indicator used to evaluate the activity of a publication, and it is used to calculate the number of citations over a certain period. The concept of impact factor was initially introduced by Eugene Garfield, the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information. Currently, Clarivate Analytics annually publishes a journal of impact factors as part of the Web of Science Journal Citation Reports.
It's worth noting that, like any other indicator of a journal's authority, the impact factor has its limitations and advantages, but overall, it is an extremely useful tool that allows researchers to optimize their work and find scientific publications (covering a truly large number of journals) that meet their needs. The impact factor is applied only to journals, not to individual articles or researchers.
Let's provide the formula for the impact factor: the impact factor is calculated as the average of the sum of citations received for a given year on the journal's publications over the previous two years, divided by the sum of "cited" publications over the previous two years. The calculation of the impact factor is done exclusively using the Journal Citation Reports database. Other scientometric indicators calculated by different databases such as Google Scholar or Scopus will have different values.
Note: To calculate the journal's impact factor for the year 2022, the number of articles and their citations for the two previous years, namely 2021 and 2020, are taken into account. This means that the period during which citations are considered is one year (2022), while the publication period spans two years (2021-2020).
Many citations = High journal rating;
The impact factor can be presented in several variations: "five-year", "operational" (for 1 year), and "ten-year". The emergence of such variations depends on the peculiarities of the scientific field.
Where is the impact factor applied?
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Within the scientometric database Web of Science (included in the Web of Science Core Collection);
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Journals indexed in the Scopus database rely on other indicators, for example, metrics like CiteScore. If a journal indexed in Scopus is not simultaneously indexed in WoS, then its impact factor is absent. It should be noted that "impact factors" like "global impact factor" or "universal impact factor" are not valid!
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You can find the impact factor by following this advice: to view the journal's impact factor in Web of Science, you need to click on the link with the journal's name. In the resulting window, summarized information from the Journal Citation Reports is provided, including the latest impact factor and the average over the last five years.
What opportunities does the impact factor open up?
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Comparing journals within the same thematic branch;
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Determining how often an article in a journal is cited over a certain period of time;
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Analyzing the relevance of the publication among the audience;
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Choosing a quality journal with a high impact factor;
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Classifying journals by their level of prestige;
What is considered a good impact factor?
There is no universal standard for the ideal impact factor value, as each scientific field has its own specifics. Generally, an impact factor value of 10 or higher is considered excellent, while a rating of 3 is considered good, and an average value below 1. There is no definitive definition of what is "unsatisfactory" or "high" impact factor for scientific journals of all fields, as it is possible to compare the impact factor of a journal with other publications only in the same category.
To achieve a high impact factor, it is necessary to develop a quality scientific publication that addresses a relevant and compelling issue, thereby encouraging others to explore your material.
What are the disadvantages of the impact factor?
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It is an arithmetic mean that does not take into account the distribution of citations;
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The impact factor does not consider the quality level of the research;
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It is impossible to compare the impact factors of journals from different fields of knowledge;
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The scientific significance of an article has nothing to do with the impact factor of the journal.
Which publications are covered by the impact factor?
Currently, the Journal Impact Factors are available for all journals in the Web of Science Core Collection that have undergone pre-selection (including the fields of arts and humanities, as well as the Emerging Sources Citation Index):
SCIE; SSCI; AHCI; ESCI;
Why is the impact factor still an important criterion? As we have already mentioned, the importance of the impact factor lies in assessing the material; it is one of those indicators that guides both researchers and readers in their scientific understanding. Scientific metrics are aimed at clearly classifying work and creating a representative understanding of it, so the impact factor, as one of the tools, performs this task.
Despite the importance of this factor, we recommend focusing primarily on writing quality scientific research that corresponds to the specificity of the journal. Therefore, for all questions regarding the selection of a publication, please contact "Scientific Publications." We will definitely consult you, determine your needs as a researcher, and choose the best journal!
