1.
Finding Impact Factors and Other
Journal-Level Metrics
Scholarly Communication Services (SCS)
By Kristy Padron, MLIS
SCS Coordinator and Associate University Librarian
kpadron@fau.edu
https://library.fau.edu/staff/kpadron
June 2020

2.
I heard of the
eigenfactor,
but…
…what
exactly is
it?
What if a journal
doesn’t have an
impact factor?
I’m
confused!
Same
here!
I couldn’t find
one for where
I published.
Image Credits: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

3.
• Define bibliometrics,
their purpose, and
use.
• Introduce types of
journal-level metrics.
• Outline ways to find
them.
• Describe some issues
regarding their use.
Workshop Objectives
Image Credit: by K. Padron, 2020.

4.
Bibliometrics: A Short Intro
 Definition: the statistical analysis of
publications, books, or articles (Duberman &
Sieving, 2017).
bi-blē-ə-ˈme-triks
Image Credit: by K. Padron, 2020.

5.
Bibliometrics: A Short Intro
 Initial Uses:
• Examine
scholarly
networks.
• (Scholars)
Identify relevant
sources.
• (Libraries) Select
journals and
works for
collections.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

6.
Bibliometrics: A Short Intro
 Current Uses:
• Identify seminal
journals (for reading
or publication)
• Measure
productivity and
influence
• Descriptive/
evaluative
purposes:
• Researcher
productivity
• Bids for promotion
and tenure
• Grant funding
• Hiring
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

7.
Types of Bibliometrics
Journal-Level*
• Quantitative measurements of
quality and influence of
journals generated through
using citation formulas.
Article-Level
• Descriptions of reach and
impact of published research
articles.
Author-Level
• Measurements of publication
activity for individuals.
Altmetrics**
• Indications of impact through
mentions, media coverage,
shares, and other online
interactions.Image Credit: Conservation & Society, 2020.
http://www.conservationandsociety.org/currentissue.asp.
Permission by CC BY-NC-SA.

8.
Journal-Level Metrics
 Journal Impact
Factor (JIF)
 CiteScore Metrics
 Source Normalized
Impact Per Paper
(SNIP)
 SCImago Journal
Rank
 Eigenfactor Score
Company/
Organization
Brief
Description
of What is
Measured
Number of
Years
Sources of
Information
URLs to
Find a Metric

9.
Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
 Product / Company:
Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
by Clarivate Analytics, WOS Group
• Other metrics by JCR:
• 5-Year Impact Factor
• Cited Half-Life
• Immediacy Index
 Most widely known, influential in STEM disciplines.
 Identifies the frequency in which an average article
from a journal is cited within a year.
 Evaluates or compares a journal’s relative
importance with others in the same field (Web of
Science Group, 2020).
Image Credit: Clarivate
Analytics, Web of Science Group.
https://clarivate.com/webofscie
ncegroup/

10.
Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
 Citable Items: published articles and reviews.
 Excluded: letters, editorial materials.
 Source of Journals and Data: Web of
Science (Social Science Citation Index and
Science Citation Index Expanded).
Journal
Impact
Factor
(2020)
# Citations for its articles published
in 2018 and 2019
# Citable items published in the
journal in 2018 and 2019
 Formula:
=

11.
Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
 Find JIF:
• Journal Citation
Report (JCR) –
not available
through FAU
• Visit a journal’s
home page.
Image Source:
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
https://academic.oup.com/qje

12.
Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
 Find JIF:
 Journal Citation Report (JCR) – not available through
FAU
 Visit a journal’s home page.

13.
CiteScore Metrics
 Product/ Company:
Scopus by Elsevier
 Includes STEM, social sciences,
and arts and humanities.
 Calculated once per year.
• CiteScore Tracker: measures metrics month-by-
month in the current year.
 Not a field-normalized metric.
• A CiteScore for a journal in one discipline should
not be compared to the score of a journal in
another.
Image Credit: Scopus.
https://www.scopus.com

14.
CiteScore Metrics
 Formula:
Average # citations received per article
in a journal in the past 3 years
# Documents indexed in Scopus in the
past 3 years
 Citable Items: peer-reviewed journals, trade
publications, books, conference papers,
patents, and more.
 Source of Journals and Data: journals and
various publications indexed in Scopus.
CiteScore
(Current Year)
=

15.
CiteScore Metrics
 Find CiteScore: scopus.com/sources

16.
Source Normalized Impact Per
Paper (SNIP)
 Product/ Organization:
CWTS Journal Indicators
by Leiden University
 Accounts for differences in citation practices
between science fields.
 Citation density: how frequently other works and
publications are cited within a field.
 Citable Items: articles, conference papers, or
reviews.
 Source of Journals and Data: journals and
various publications indexed in Scopus.
Image Credit: CWTS.
https://www.journalindicators.com

17.
Source Normalized Impact Per
Paper (SNIP)
 Formula:
Average # of times a journal was cited
in past 3 years
Harmonic average # of references in
publications with past 3 years in
subject field*
*Subject field is determined by what publications in year of
analysis had at least 1 reference to a given journal and
proportion of publications with at least 1 active reference in
citing journals (Waltman, van Eck, van Leeuwne, & Visser,
2013).
SNIP
(Current =
Year)

18.
Source Normalized Impact Per
Paper (SNIP)
 Find SNIP:
www.journalindicators.com

19.
SCImago Journal Rank
 Product/ Organization:
SCImago by SCImago Lab/
University of Granada, Extremadura,
Carlos III (Madrid) and Alcalá de Henares
 Captures the effect of the subject field, quality, and
reputation a journal has on a citation.
 Limits self citations (a maximum of 33% of its
references are allowed).
 Citable Items: articles, reviews, and conference
papers.
 Source of Journals and Data: Scopus by
Elsevier
Image Credit: SCImago Lab.
https://www.scimagolab.com/

20.
SCImago Journal Rank
 Formula: Computed in 2 phases (González-Pereira, Guerrero-
Bote, & Maya-Anegón, 2010).
• Phase 1: Computation of prestige SJR (PSJR): a size-
dependent measure that reflects overall journal prestige.
• 3 Criteria:
Prestige value: A minimum prestige value for being in
Scopus
Publication prestige: Number of published articles
within a 3-year window.
Citation prestige: Number and importance of citations
from other journals.
• Phase 2: Normalization of PSJR to give a size-dependent
metric that can be used for comparisons.
• Uses number of primary items published by a journal to
normalize score.

21.
SCImago Journal Rank
 Find SJR: www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php

22.
Eigenfactor Score
 Organization:
Eigenfactor.org at
University of Washington
 Last updates on their website: 2015.
 Attempts to capture the influence and prestige
of journals through its citation networks.
 Scores are scaled to where Eigenfactor scores of all
journals (that are given scores) amount to 100,
and…
 …a journal’s score implies percentage of influence.
• If a journal has an Eigenfactor score of 1.0, it has 1% of
the total influence of all journals included in their
analysis (Eigenfactor.Org, n.d.).
Image Credit: Eigenfactor.Org.
http://www.eigenfactor.org/

23.
Eigenfactor Score
 Citable Items: published articles and reviews.
 Excluded: Self-citations
 Source of Journals and Data: Web of Science
(Social Science Citation Index and Science
Citation Index Expanded).

24.
Eigenfactor Score
 Find Eigenfactor Score:
www.Eigenfactor.org

25.
Caveats of Journal Metrics
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

26.
Caveats of Journal Metrics
 They do not readily apply to
all disciplines because of their
publishing and citation norms.
 Used more in fields with high
citation density.
 Not easily applicable to fields
that publish in monographs
(books) or other types of
publications that are not
journals.
 Favor long-established
journals and those that
publish a large number of
articles.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

27.
Caveats of Journal Metrics
 The formulas used to
generate them are
frequently criticized.
• Statistical issues
• Lack of transparency
• Included and excluded
publications
 Metrics can be gamed:
excessive self-citation,
“citation cartels” by
publishers.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

28.
Caveats of Journal Metrics
 Some metrics are not field-
normalized.
 There is no standardized
metric or ranking for impact
that includes all subjects.
 Determining what a “good
metric” or number may be
quite complicated.
 Misuse.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

29.
Find Journal-Level Metrics
 Visit a journal’s home page.
 Go to a bibliometric’s site.
 Search in Journal Citation
Reports.
 What if I can’t find one?
 It may not have been given a
metric.
 It wasn’t included in Scopus or
Web of Science.
 It hasn’t been around long
enough (3 year minimum).Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
Permission by CC0.

30.
More Information
 Research Impact
LibGuide
https://bit.ly/scs-impact
 Scholarly
Communication Services
Home
https://bit.ly/scs-fau
• Topics and information
• Request SCS Services:
consultations,
presentations (class and
groups)
Image Credit: Pixabay.com. Permission by CC0.

31.
Thank You (and Quiz)
 Quiz:
https://bit.ly/scs-quiz1
 Give your
feedback!
https://bit.ly/scs-campus
Image Credit: Pixabay.com. Permission by CC0.

32.
Works Cited
Duberman, J.A., & Sieving, P.C. (2017). Information resources for the clinical
researcher. In Gallin, J.I., Ogibene, F.P., & Johnson, L.L., Principles and practice
of clinical research (4th Ed.). Academic Press.
Eigenfactor.Org (n.d.). About the Eigenfactor® Project [Web page].
http://www.eigenfactor.org/about.php
González-Pereira, B., Guerrero-Bote, V.P., & Maya-Anegón, F. (2010). A new
approach to the metrics of journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR Indicator.
Journal of Informetrics, 4(3): 379-391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2010.03.002
Waltman, L., van Eck, N.J., van Leeuwen, T.N., Visser, M.S. (2013). Some
modifications to the SNIP journal impact factor. Journal of Informetrics, 7(2):
272-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2012.11.011
Web of Science Group (2020). Journal Citation Report: Learn the basics [Web page].
https://libguides.com/JCR/basics
West, J.D., Bergstrom, T.C., & Bergstrom, C.T. (2010). The Eigenfactor MetricsTM: A
network approach assessing scholarly journals. College & Research Libraries,
71(3). https://doi.org/10.5860/0701236

33.
Finding Impact Factors and Other
Journal-Level Metrics
Scholarly Communication Services (SCS)
By Kristy Padron, MLIS
SCS Coordinator and Associate University Librarian
kpadron@fau.edu
https://library.fau.edu/staff/kpadron
June 2020