Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
A journal's impact factor is one of the most common journal metrics. It can be found using Journal Citation Reports. Based on data from Web of Science, its calculation is a ratio of the journal's citations and the number of citable items from the previous two years.
- Advantages: Well established and respected metric.
- Disadvantages: Cannot be used to compare journals from different subject categories; Weighted toward science and social science disciplines; disadvantages newer journals; not intended to measure individual articles/researchers.
SCImago Journal Rank
Calculates the number of citations a journal receives and weights each citation according to perceived quality. Source journals are assessed as prestigous based on the number of times an article is cited based on previous 3 years.
- Advantages: Designed to rank journal impact; analyzed over long periods; can be used across discplines.
- Disadvantages: Based on Scopus data (doesn't include everything); has not gained wide recognition; disadvantages newer and smaller journals.
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
Freely available from Scopus, a journal's SNIP is a ratio of citation counts per paper and the citation potential of the journal's field, based on 3-years worth of data. Citations are weighted more depending the journal's field.
- Advantages: Can be used to compare journals from across all disciplines.
- Disadvantages: disadvantages newer and smaller journals.
Eigenfactor
Available in Journal Citation Reports or from eigenfactor.org. Uses a network algorithm where citations from highly cited journals are given more weight. Also estimates how much time readers view the journal online.
- Advantages: Designed to rank journal impact; analyzed over long periods; can be used across discplines.
- Disadvantages: Based on Web of Science data (doesn't include everything); has not gained wide recognition; disadvantages newer and smaller journals.
