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Earlier this summer, Clarivate Analytics released the 2024 edition of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) which includes journal citation data from the 2023 calendar year. JCR coversjournals indexed in all editions of Web of Science Core Collection, including Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index.

JCR is best known for is the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). The JIF is a metric that measures the average number of citations to recent articles published in a particular journal in a given year. The 2024 JCR JIF calculates citations to a journal in 2023 of items published in 2021 and 2022 (i.e. the previous two years), divided by the total number of articles and reviews, (i.e., citable items).

For example, the journal Blood has an impact factor of 21.0. The 992 articles and reviews published in Blood in 2021 and 2022. Those articles and reviews were cited 20,831 times in 2023. 20,831 divided by 992 equals 21. It ranks second in the Hematology category. To put this in context, Journal of Hematology and Oncology ranks first with an impact factor of 29.5. Circulation Research ranks third with an impact factor of 16.5. Since citation rates vary widely by discipline, it is important to use JIFs to compare journals within the same field.

A few years ago, JCR added another metric, the Journal Citation Indicator (JCI). The JCI is field-normalized and takes into account the differences of citation patterns across all subjects. For example, JCI can be used to compare an oncology journal to a physics journal. The JCI is fairly easy to interpret: the baseline impact for all journals is 1. If the JCI for a journal is 2, that journal would be twice as impactful compared to all other journals. A score of below 1 would indicate that the journal is less impactful than other journals.

Use these metrics wisely to inform your publishing decisions. They are only one part of the equation. If you have questions about finding the best fit for your publication, contact a research librarian.