Research Impact & Scholarly Credentials

The impact factor is an indicator of journal quality.  A measure of the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year, the impactor factor is calculated by dividing the number of current citation to articles published in the two previous years by the total number of articles published in the two previous years.  Ultimately, the impact factor helps researchers evaluate a journal's relative importance, especially when compared to others in the same field.

Keep in mind that not all journals are ranked.  For example, in some Humanities disciplines, few impact factors exist for specific journals, often because Humanities scholars tend to cite primary texts more than secondary ones. This makes it crucial to determine a journal's overall impact by its availability and presence.  Try using the following sources.

Information available in Ulrich's that is indicative of journal impact includes:

• “Academic/Scholarly” designation (an indicator of quality)
• Refereed status (an indicator of quality)
• Circulation statistics (an indicator of quantity)
• Journal description and reviews
• Indication of inclusion in Journal Citation Reports
• Abstracting/Indexing services that provide access to the content of the journals (The more services that abstract and index a journal, the more widely disseminated the information is, and the greater the impact.).
• Document Delivery Services (If the journal is available through document delivery services, this serves as an indicator of its importance as these delivery services chose to make available journals that have merit.).

To search WorldCAT:

• In the "Advanced Search" tab, search by title or ISSN, and limit to "Serial Publications."
• Identify the correct journal from the search result.
• Note the number associted with the "Libraried Worldwide" link. Select "Libraries Worldwide" link, followed by "Display All Libraries" to receive complete library holdings.  The "Libraries Worldwide" link only displays local libraries.
• Email, print, or export results.
• Note: Keep in mind you may see multiple record listings of the same journal in the search result. This may be due to format differences (e.g. print, electronic) and/or differences in cataloging practices. Be sure to recognize and count those when necessary.

Another indicator of journal impact is the journal's acceptance/rejection rate. Many journals provide their acceptance/rejection rate on their website as do some databases. If acceptance/rejection rate is unavailable, try contacting the journal's editor for this information.

As an alternative to using impact factors from the Journal Citation Reports, a lot of new sites have cropped up on the Internet using other metrics.

Some content courtesy of University of South Florida Library's guide, Impact: Library Tools for Promotion and Tenure.