Journal metrics

It may be helpful to demonstrate the impact or prestige of the journals in which you have published articles.  

You can do this by highlighting the impact factor, quartile, or ranking of a journal. (Be aware that not all grant schemes require or allow this – you will need to check the requirements for the relevant scheme). 

Some disciplines (Arts, Business) have their own lists or rankings of prestigious journals (see below).

Journal metrics measure the performance of research and scholarly publications. You can also use journal metrics to compare and rank journals in order to make strategic decisions about the best journal in which to publish your research for maximum impact.  

You can source journal metrics from a number of ranking tools. Each of these tools has their own strengths and limitations, and measure different elements of journal metrics. The information below will help you use these tools with discretion to judge the most appropriate publications for your research.

  • Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

    The Journal Impact Factor is “a measure reflecting the annual average (mean) number of citations to recent articles published in that journal.” This number can be used to evaluate or compare a journal’s relative importance to others in the same field. It cannot be used to compare journals across different subject categories.

    You can find the JIF for a journal using these tools: 

    • Web of Science 
      From the Results page of an article search, click on the journal name. JIF, Journal Rank in subject category, and Journal quartile (Q1, Q2, etc.) are given. 
      or
      From the article main page, scroll down to Journal Information and click the link to Journal Citation Reports to see a detailed report (including JIF, ranking, and quartile) for that journal. 

    • Journal Citation Reports – from Web of Science, select the Journal Citation Reports tab (from the top of the screen) and search for your journal to see a detailed report (including JIF, ranking, and quartile).

  • SJR (Scimago Journal Rank)

    This is a journal ranking based on the concept that not all citations are created equal, and some are worth more than others on the basis of the prestige of the journal. The calculation for SJR is the average number of weighted citations received in the selected year by the documents published in the selected journal in the three previous years. Subject field, quality and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the value of a citation. SJR also normalizes for differences in citation behaviour between subject fields.  

    You can find the SJR for a journal using these tools: 

    • Scopus – from the Document Details page for an article, click the journal name. Information includes SJR, SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper), CiteScore and subject category ranking/percentiles.

  • Journal rankings, quartiles, percentiles

    It is a good idea to look at ranking, quartile and percentile information for journals, as this often conveys greater meaning in a grant application than the JIF or SJR indicator alone. 

    Additionally, a journal may have a low impact factor on a global scale, but be highly regarded in its subject field or geographical region. Citation culture also plays a part; for example, medical researchers tend to cite others’ work more frequently than mathematics researchers.  

    • Web of Science 
      From the Results page of an article search, click on the journal name. JIF, Journal Rank in subject category, and Journal quartile (Q1, Q2, etc.) are given. 
      or
      From the article main page, scroll down to Journal Information and click the link to Journal Citation Reports to see a detailed report (including JIF, ranking, and quartile) for that journal. 
    • Journal Citation Reports – from Web of Science, select the Journal Citation Reports tab and search for your journal to see a detailed report (including JIF, ranking, and quartile). 

    • Scopus – from the Document Details page for an article, click the journal name. Information includes SJR, SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper), CiteScore and subject category ranking/percentiles. 

  • Subject-specific lists of journal quality/esteem