Bibliographic Metrics for Journals

1. Journal Citation Efficiency

The Journal Citation impact factor / Journal Citation Efficiency is a measure of the relative size ofthe citation curve in years 2 and 3. It is calculated by dividing the number of current citations a journal receives to articles published in the two previous years by the number of articles published in those same years.

Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in journals, books, patent document, thesis, project reports, newspapers, conference/ seminar proceedings, documents published in internet, notes and any other approved documents. It is measure the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals of higher journal impact factors deemed to be more important than those with lower ones.

A= total cites in 2012
B= 2012 cites to articles published in 2007 - 2011 (this is a subset of A)
C= number of articles published in 2007 – 2011
D= B/C = 2012 impact factor

The impact factor is useful in clarifying the significance of absolute citation frequencies. It eliminates some of the bias of such counts which favor large journals over small ones, or frequently issued journals over less frequently issued ones, and of older journals over newer ones. Particularly in the latter case such journals have a larger citable body of literature than smaller or younger journals. All things being equal, the larger the number of previously published articles, the more often a journal will be cited.

2. Immediacy Index

The immediacy index gives a measure of the skewness of the curve, that is, the extent to which the peak of thecurve lies near to the origin of the graph. It is calculated bydividing the citations a journal receives in the current yearby the number of articles it publishes in that year, i.e., the1999 immediacy index is the average number of citationsin 1999 to articles published in 1999. The number thatresults can be thought of as the initial gradient of thecitation curve, a measure of how quickly items in thatjournal get cited upon publication.

3. Impact Factor (JCC)

Impact Factor (JCC) - a metric developed and promulgated by ASJR is completely an unique, systematic and scientific way of computation and analysis based on the following parameters. Here JCC refers to the computation methodology which can be expanded as Journal Contextual coherence and Capability.

I. Governance and Commercial Quality
II. Editorial quality
III. International presence and Infrastructure
IV. Contextual Coherence and Citations

This metric also measures contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field. The impact of a single citation is given higher value in subject areas where citations are less likely, and vice versa.

It is defined as the ratio of a journal’s citation count per paper and the citation potential in its subject field. It aims to allow direct comparison of sources in different subject fields. Citation potential is shown to vary not only between journal subject categories – groupings of journals sharing a research field – or disciplines (e.g., journals in Mathematics, Engineering and Social Sciences tend to have lower values than titles in Life Sciences), but also between journals within the same subject category. For instance, basic journals tend to show higher citation potentials than applied or clinical journals, and journals covering emerging topics higher than periodicals in classical subjects or more general journals.

Advantages of Impact Factor (JCC)

There are many advantages of journal citation impact factors. The most common involve market research for publishers and others. But, primarily, ASJR provides librarians, scientists and researchers with a tool for the management of library journal collections. In market research, the impact factor provides quantitative evidence for editors and publishers for positioning their journals in relation to the competition—especially others in the same subject category, in a vertical rather than a horizontal or intradisciplinary comparison. As a tool for management of library journal collections, the impact factor supplies the library administrator with information about journals already in the collection and journals under consideration for acquisition. These data must also be combined with cost and circulation data to make rational decisions about purchases of journals.

Perhaps the most important and recent use of impact is in the process of academic evaluation. The impact factor can be used to provide a gross approximation of the prestige of journals in which individuals have been published. This is best done in conjunction with other considerations such as peer review, productivity, and subject specialty citation rates. The impact factor can be useful in all of these applications, provided the data are used sensibly. It is important to note that qualitative methods can be used in evaluating journals as, for example, by interviews or questionnaires. In general, there is good agreement on the relative value of journals in the appropriate categories. However, the ASJRmakes possible the realization that many journals do not fit easily into established categories.

ASJR does not recommend the “Impact Factor (JCC)” as the only important metric for assessing the usefulness of a journal. Rather ASJR does not depend on the impact factor alone in assessing the usefulness of a journal, and neither should anyone else. The impact factor should not be used without careful attention to the many phenomena that influence citation rates, as for example the average number of references cited in the average article. In the case of academic evaluation for tenure it is sometimes inappropriate to use the impact of the source journal to estimate the expected frequency of a recently published article. Again, the impact factor should be used with informed peer review. Citation frequencies for individual articles are quite varied.