Many considerations should factor into a well-made decision about which journal(s) an author should target for manuscript submission. (For more info, see the MSK Library’s Support for Authors LibGuide.) 

As they explore their options, it’s often useful for authors to get a sense of how reputable a particular journal title is based on how this journal ranks – in terms of impact – versus other journals within the same discipline. In general, journal impact metrics are generated using a mathematical algorithm that is largely based on article citation counts over a pre-specified time period. Citation count data can provide some indication of a journal’s influence and reach, particularly when considered relative to other journals.

Below are three tools (two subscription databases available via the MSK Library and one free online search engine) that can be used to generate journal impact ranking information that can aid with the journal selection process.

• Journal Citation Reports 

Journal Impact Factors^TM – and the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) rankings that they lead to – are generated using two years-worth of article citation data compiled in Clarivate’s Web of Science database. This metric has been around for over 50 years, and was developed by the originator of the citation analysis concept, Eugene Garfield, who is often considered the grandfather of information science and scientometrics. 

See more details on how the Journal Impact Factor^TM is calculated.

• Elsevier’s Scopus Sources

Elsevier generates it own impact metric, called the CiteScore^TM, by using the citations to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters and data papers published over a four-year publication window. Similar to Clarivate, Elsevier can generate these metrics because the data needed for the calculations is available from its flagship Scopus database.

See more details on how the CiteScore^TM is calculated.

• Google Scholar Metrics 

Google Scholar, although not a structured database populated with records that have standard fields (as is the case in JCR and Elsevier’s Scopus Sources) still collects citation data that it compiles via the Google Scholar search crawler. It then uses citation data to generate an h-index type metric for the entire journal, as opposed to the usual use of the h-index to evaluate the productivity of an individual researcher. Google Scholar h5 metrics are calculations based on the citation count to published items from the last five complete calendar years.

See more details on how Google Scholar h-based metrics are calculated.

Be sure to check out the MSK Library’s Measuring Research Impact class and the Evaluating Journal Quality class if you have questions, or Ask Us!