Citation Analysis (Bibliometrics)

In the scholarly environment, a high impact journal title would be the journal of choice when compared to a lower impact journal – whether you are a researcher wanting to publish an article, or whether you want to consult a journal for further research. In citation analysis (form of bibliometrics), impact is measured according to the number of citations, which can be applied to the following:

• Article impact: number of times a specific article has been cited

• Author impact: average or number of times a specific author has been cited

• Journal impact: average citation count for all articles published by a journal

The more open an article, the higher the visibility, the easier the accessibility, and the higher the chances that the article will be consulted or cited. To increase the journal impact, journals are encouraged to publish open access and use open standards that are machine readable and that can be easily interpreted by search engines and directories. Search engines and directories can then harvest the metadata, creating additional access points from where an individual article can be accessed.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics (alternative metrics) cover not just citation counts, but also other aspects of the impact of a work, such as how many data and knowledge bases refer to it, article views, downloads, or mentions in social media and news media.

See Altmetrics.com for tools and more information.

Journal Citation Impact

The citation impact of specific journal titles are listed:

• InCites Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters WoS) (subscription required)

• SCImago Journal & Country Rank (Elsevier Scopus)

• Publish or Perish: Download

• Google Scholar Metrics

• Google Scholar Citations Profile - can be created for a specific journal. Examples:

  • South African Journal of Science

  • South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science

  • Acta Theologica

  • African Human Rights Law Journal

  • South African Journal of Industrial Engineering

  • South African Medical Journal

Apply/register a Journal Impact Metric

Journal editors can apply for journal impact metrics using the following:

• Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate Analytics WoS): Criteria - Submit

• SCImago Journal & Country Rank (Elsevier Scopus): Journal List - Criteria

• Publish or Perish: Download

• Google Scholar Metrics: Guidelines

• Google Scholar Citations Profile (create own): Create

Useful Links

• The Impact Factor and its Discontents

• The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)

• The weakening relationship between the Impact Factor and papers' citations in the digital age

• Study reveals declining influence of high impact factor journals

• The Big IF: Is Journal Impact Factor really so important?

• The rise and fall of PLOS ONE's Impact Factor

• Thinking about prestige, quality and open access