What does the Impact Factor of a journal mean?
Impact Factor is basically a measure of the average number of citations of an article published in a journal. This mathematical formula is calculated over a three-year period and represents the average number of times papers get cited within two years of getting published. Authors mostly prefer publishing their manuscripts in high-impact-factor journals because they are considered more prestigious (e.g., Nature, Science, Cell, etc.).
Impact Factor is basically a measure of the average number of citations of an article published in a journal. This mathematical formula is calculated over a three-year period and represents the average number of times papers get cited within two years of getting published. Authors mostly prefer publishing their manuscripts in high-impact-factor journals because they are considered more prestigious (e.g., Nature, Science, Cell, etc.). However, the evaluation of impact factor as the most important metric for journals might be having a few flaws. These limitations, listed below, can be addressed using other bibliometric tools.
- IFs are significantly dependent on the research field. Journals reporting basic research and having expanding literature use a larger number of references per article.
- IFs do not statistically represent individual journal articles. Normally, IFs are based on small groups of highly cited papers.
- IFs are based on a flawed calculation that causes bias.
- Since the number of citations within a journal is highly skewed, the IF does not provide an accurate measure of the number of citations that a future article will receive. There are no correlations found between the number of citations and a journal’s IF.
To get a clearer understanding of the research metrics like impact factor, h-index, altmetrics etc., you can check through Enago Learn’s course on research metrics.
