Getting your research paper published in an acclaimed journal goes a long way in advancing your academic career. One of the aspects that you would encounter during the process of choosing where to publish your research is a widely known concept called impact factor. Despite being widely recognized and used by all researchers as a tool for measuring the influence of a journal, there are no clear guidelines regarding a high impact factor value. These figures vary significantly depending on the area of studies and what might be regarded as a high value in one particular sphere might appear average in another one. This is where Scopus Journal Publisher is at your service.
Understanding Journal Influence Metrics
It is always useful to understand what these journal scores mean before sending your paper to a journal. Simply put, when people talk about meaning of impact factor, they talk about scores which indicate how many times the articles in a certain journal were cited by other researchers during a two-year period.
Top databases calculate such scores each year for authors to have an idea about the level of a journal’s visibility among academics. Still, there are many signs of a good journal besides a high score. The score only indicates how often the papers in a journal are cited by other scientists.
How Editorial Score Metrics Are Calculated
The formula used to determine the score of the journal is quite simple. The database tallies up all the references made by any journal publications within the last two years and divides it by the total number of citable articles published by that journal in the last two years.
As an illustration, if a journal publishes 100 articles in two years, which are referred to 300 times in the next year, the score will be 3.0. The ratio enables scientists to easily compare the citation rates of various journals within the same scientific field.
Why Citation Ranges Vary Across Academic Disciplines
Comparison of citation scores in various subjects is like comparing apples to oranges. Various disciplines have entirely different citation practices, sizes of research teams, and publication rate. Large global disciplines with fast publication rates will always have much higher citation scores than smaller niche disciplines.
Fast-paced disciplines such as medicine, biochemistry, or molecular genetics, for example, publish more often and cite many papers in their articles. Consequently, the citation scores of such journals tend to be very high, 10 or even 20. On the other hand, smaller disciplines such as mathematics, history, or social sciences will have a score of 1.5 or 2.0, which is considered very good.
What Counts as a Strong Score in Your Specific Domain?
Due to the differences in scores for different categories, a lot of people pose the question: what is a good impact factor in my particular subject area? The answer will always depend on your subject category and position of the journal among its direct competitors.
On average, a score of 1.0 can be viewed as a decent minimum for many specialized journals. Scores from 2.0 to 5.0 are usually viewed as excellent for most STEM disciplines. Scores of 10.0 and higher are indicative of the top journals in the fields of health and life sciences. Instead of focusing on the score alone, it is better to focus on the journal’s quartile ranking (Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4) in its particular category. A Q1 journal belongs to the top 25% of all publications in its field.
Common Misconceptions About Editorial Ranking Metrics
Many young researchers tend to commit typical mistakes when examining citation scores while preparing their manuscripts.
- Judging Paper Quality by Journal Score: High journal score doesn’t necessarily guarantee that all papers in it are perfect, just like low score doesn’t mean that the paper is bad.
- Comparing Irrelevant Journals: Expecting a history or education journal to be numerically equal to a medical one is not realistic.
- Failing to Consider the Specialized Audience: Highly specialized journals can have low scores only because the readership of such journals is narrow, but this doesn’t mean that these journals aren’t the right ones for publishing your paper.
- Thinking That Higher is Always Better: Your target journals should be relevant to the scope of your research and its audience.
Key Factors That Influence Journal Citation Scores
There are several silent influences that can make an article increase or decrease its score over time. For example, open access journals usually get more citations due to the free access to their articles for the whole world without any payment. Another example of high scoring journals is review journals since review articles gather huge amounts of literature references and thus citations.
The other important factor is that the journals which publish few select articles can have higher citation ratios compared to the big journals which publish hundreds of articles monthly.
How to Easily Look Up Official Journal Scores
In order to see how reputable a journal is, use the reliable databases such as Journal Citation Reports (JCR) in Web of Science and Scopus metrics like CiteScore or SJR. Do not use any random website or unreliable indicators that are shown on the publishers’ web page since some dubious publishers try to deceive readers by providing false metrics of their journals.
When you hire a professional journal selection service, they assist you in comparing the official databases, analyzing category quartiles, and checking the indexing of your journal before submitting anything.
Choosing the Best Outlet Beyond Just Numbers
Even though citation metrics matter, they must not be the sole consideration in choosing a journal to submit your work. Among the other factors worth taking into account include the journal’s audience, average peer review time, open access policy, and alignment between the purpose of your research and aims & scope of the journal.
A paper submitted to a well-indexed, peer-reviewed Q2 journal with a targeted audience will benefit you far more than submitting your paper to a poorly suited Q1 journal and having it desk rejected. With the assistance of a competent publication support services, your paper will get the proper format and submission to a suitable journal.
Conclusion
The knowledge of how to assess the impact factor will help you make intelligent and wise choices when selecting journals for publishing your research without being baffled by figures. Using such criteria as range per field, category quartile, and scope appropriateness, you ensure that your manuscript will have a chance to become visible for years to come. At Scopus Journal Publisher, our professional editorial team will assist you throughout the process of journal selection, paper formatting, and manuscript preparation. Contact us now!
