Impact Factor Calculator
Calculate journal impact factors with our easy-to-use tool. Determine the influence and reach of academic journals based on citation data.
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What Is the Journal Impact Factor?
The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a metric that reflects the yearly average number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field.
How Is Impact Factor Calculated?
The Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations in the current year to articles published in the two previous years by the total number of articles published in the same two years.
Impact Factor = (Citations in year X to articles published in years X-1 and X-2) ÷ (Number of articles published in years X-1 and X-2)
Interpreting Impact Factor Results
The significance of Impact Factor varies by discipline:
- A high Impact Factor (e.g., >10) is exceptional in most fields
- Impact Factors between 3-7 are generally considered good in many fields
- Impact Factors between 1-3 are typical for many specialized journals
- New journals often have lower Impact Factors as they build their citation base
Limitations of Impact Factor
While widely used, Impact Factor has several limitations:
- It varies widely across different research fields
- It can be influenced by a small number of highly cited papers
- It doesn't directly reflect the quality of individual articles
- It favors journals that publish review articles, which tend to be cited more often
- Self-citation by journals can artificially increase Impact Factor
Alternative Metrics
Due to the limitations of Impact Factor, many alternative metrics have been developed:
- h-index: Measures both productivity and citation impact of a researcher
- Eigenfactor: Considers the influence of citing journals
- CiteScore: Similar to Impact Factor but uses a 3-year window
- Altmetric: Measures online attention beyond formal citations
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Frequently Asked Questions
A journal impact factor (JIF) is a metric that measures the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year. It's calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to articles published in the two previous years by the total number of articles published in those same two years.
Not necessarily. Impact factors vary widely between different fields of research. For example, journals in fundamental biology and medicine typically have higher impact factors than specialized engineering journals. It's best to compare impact factors within the same discipline rather than across different fields.
Journal impact factors are typically updated annually. The new impact factors are released by organizations like Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) in their Journal Citation Reports, usually around June each year, reflecting citations from the previous year.
Some journals lack an impact factor because they are not indexed in the databases used to calculate impact factors, such as the Science Citation Index or Social Sciences Citation Index. New journals usually need to wait at least two years after being indexed to receive their first impact factor.
Yes, impact factors can be manipulated in several ways. Journals may encourage self-citation, publish more review articles (which tend to be cited more frequently), or use editorial policies that favor potentially highly-cited papers. These practices have led to criticism of over-reliance on impact factors in academic evaluation.
To use our impact factor calculator, input the total number of citations received in the current year for articles published in the previous two years, and the total number of articles published in those same two years. The calculator will divide the former by the latter to determine the impact factor.
What constitutes a "good" impact factor varies significantly by field. Generally:
- In life sciences and biomedicine, top journals often have impact factors above 10
- In many science and engineering fields, an impact factor above 3 is considered good
- In social sciences and humanities, impact factors tend to be lower, and values above 2 may be considered strong
Always compare journals within the same discipline for meaningful evaluation.
Several alternative metrics have been developed to address limitations of the impact factor:
- CiteScore: Similar to impact factor but uses a 3-year window instead of 2 years
- SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): Weights citations based on the prestige of the citing journal
- Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): Normalizes for differences in citation practices between fields
- Altmetrics: Measure online attention including social media mentions, downloads, and shares
- h-index: Measures both productivity and citation impact
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