Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provide quantitative tools for ranking, evaluating, categorizing and comparing journals. The journal impact factor (JIF) calculated in JCR is one measure of the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period. When viewing the record for a journal in JCR, the details of the derivation of the journal impact factor and other metrics are shown.
Use JCR to find out the journals in your subject area which have the high impact and view the other metrics available e.g. total cites and immediacy index.
Applications of journal impact factor include:
The impact factor can be used to provide a gross approximation of the prestige of journals in which individuals have been published. This should be done in conjunction with other considerations such as peer review, productivity and subject specialty citation rates.
The impact factor provides the library administrator with information about journals already in the collection and journals under consideration for subscription
The impact factor provides quantitative evidence for editors and publishers for positioning their journals in relation to the competiton - especially in the same subject category. The data may also be useful to advertisers who are interested in evaluating the potential of a specific journal.
