Impact Factor: A relatively precise way to select a peer review journal

So…you want to publish…?

There are lots of reasons to publish your research. Ultimately, I think we all want to be part of the scientific discourse. Yet rejection is an inevitable part of the process. I’ve only met one person ever who one time with one paper received a full acceptance on the first submission. The good news is that with the number of journals online today—more than 30,000 and growing!—the odds of acceptance are higher than ever. But even with the plethora of options available, picking the right journal should be your top priority.

I would argue that if you pick the right journal, you reduce the risk of lost time due to a string of rejections. But let me be clear: the goal is not to submit to the “best” journal, but to the best journal for your paper. You will only waste time submitting to a journal that does not suit your paper. Once you have developed your core argument, organized your structure, and drafted the introduction, it’s a good time to select a journal (or short list of journals).  Every journal has different requirements so these can be used to guide you as you work through finishing your manuscript.

There are lots of ways to go about selecting a journal,

but I want to focus specifically on Impact Factor.

What is Impact Factor?

Let’s talk about journal metrics...while you will see a number of different metrics when you research journals, probably the two most important are the Impact Factor and CiteScore.

Impact Factor is calculated as all citations to the journal in the current journal citation year (JCR year) to items published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of scholarly items (articles, reviews, and proceedings papers) published in the journal in the previous two years. 

For example, if a journal published 100 articles in 2022-2023, and those articles received 300 citations in 2024, the journal's 2024 impact factor would be 300/100 = 3.0.

A higher impact factor suggest that articles in that journal are more frequently cited by other researchers. This is often considered a measure of journal prestige and journals with impact factors above 10 are typically top-tier, whereas those in the 3-5 range are still considered quite influential.

Another metric you might see is the 5-Year Journal Impact Factor, which is calculated as the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year divided by the total number of articles published in the five previous years.

For example, if a journal published 250 articles in 2019-2023, and those articles received 500 citations in 2024, the journal's 2024 5-year impact factor would be 500/250 = 2.0.

The Journal Citation Indicator complements the impact factor. It is field-normalized so it can be more easily interpreted and compared across different disciplines.

You might also see a CiteScore, which is calculated by dividing the number of citations to documents published in a 4-year period by the number of documents in the same 4-year period. If you are interested, check out: What is CiteScore in Journal Publishing by Publishingstate.com.

For example, if a journal published 200 articles in 2020-2023, and those articles received 1200 citations the journal's 2024 impact factor would be 1200/200 = 6.0.

Less common, but you might also run across a SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper), which measures average citations in Year X to papers published in the previous 3 years. Citations are weighted by the citation potential of the journal’s subject category, making the metric comparable across different disciplines.

High Impact Journals

High-impact journals are designated by strong journal metrics including high Impact Factor (those indexed in Web of Science), high CiteScore (Scopus database), and indexed in top quartiles of major databases (quartiles 1 and 2).

Why is ranking so important?

Primarily because it is an indicator of a journal’s influence and reputation within its field.  Therefore, journals with higher rankings are often perceived as (and often are) more prestigious. By publishing in a high-ranking journal, authors can increase the visibility and impact of their research. And, put simply, publications in well-ranked journals are more likely to be read and cited by peers, boosting an author’s citations and h-index, which can improve their academic profile when applying for jobs, funding, promotions, or tenure.

As an aside: The h-index is calculated by counting the number of publications that an author has been cited by other authors at least that same number of times. For instance, an h-index of 5 means that the scientist has published at least 5 papers that have each been cited at least 5 times.

Check out my Jan. 31, 2025 blog post titled: OA vs. Paywall: Who pays the price? where I talk about citation trends in fee-based subscription journals versus open access journals.

Impact Factor is relative 

So, what is a desirable impact factor—5.0? 8.5? 1.3? Well…it depends; what is acceptable varies widely by discipline and specialty.

I asked Claude.ai (Sonnet 4 version) for some statistics. I am mindful of AI’s tendency to hallucinate—aka make up results—but in this case, I trust Claude.ai’s ability to aggregate information in a way that is meaningful for this topic. Even if the actual numbers are not accurate, the trends are useful.

First, let’s look at the major science disciplines: 

You can see that even in the sciences, it ranges dramatically. What is excellent in one discipline is average in another. Clearly impact factor is not an indicator of the quality of the research itself, but shows that some disciplines may simply cast a wider audience net. Claude.ai notes these reasons for differences:

• Mathematics has longer citation cycles and smaller research communities.
• Medicine has larger research communities, faster publication cycles, and higher citation rates.
• Biology benefits from collaborative research and interdisciplinary applications.
• Engineering often cites patents and conference proceedings, which aren't tracked in impact factor calculations.

Let’s look at the Social Sciences:

 Overall, the scores are lower as compared to the major science disciplines, which Claude.ai attributes to these reasons:

• Longer citation cycles (research may be cited years after publication)
• More regional/national focus reducing international citations
• Greater reliance on books and non-journal sources
• Smaller, more specialized research communities

What about the humanities?

According to Claude.ai, impact factor limitations are especially pronounced in humanities because:

• The 2-year citation window misses most humanities citations
• Book citations aren't counted in impact factor calculations
• Many prestigious humanities journals have very modest impact factors

Alternative measures matter more: including journal reputation and editorial prestige, inclusion in major databases and indexes, recognition by professional associations, and quality of the peer review process.

So where do you see yourself on these scales? Do you straddle disciplines like I do?

I did one more search for my specific certifications:

What is considered excellent in HBS is lower-ranked as very good in LA. Which leads me to assume that publishing in LA journals would be a better strategy—and lead to more citations of my research. However, LA is a small field with less reach. Publishing in HBS journals would likely attract a broader audience (which could still translate into citations, but maybe not).

I suspect many of you are in interdisciplinary fields—or at the very least collaborate across disciplines.

So how do you choose? How do you make sense of journal rankings and prioritize where to publish?

There are many roads to publication…

Wherever you are in your publication journey, rest assured that there are lots of journal to choose from—30,000+ remember?—and what you'll want to do is take stock of your unique situation and goals.  

Put simply, a peer-reviewed journal is the gold standard for publishing scientific research.

But, beyond impact factor and other journal metrics within your discipline, there are different types of disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals that each have different relative rankings. For example, there are field journals, regional journals, journals that publish themed or special issues, and newer journals. Phew. Confused yet? 

With that in mind, I made one final ask of Claude.ai: What is the difference between the impact factor for peer reviewed disciplinary journals versus interdisciplinary journals?

The response was less straight forward…First,

‘Results show that the top 1% most cited papers exhibit higher levels of interdisciplinarity than papers in other citation rank classes’

—but note that this was referring to interdisciplinary STEM papers (i.e., physics and biology).

Second,

‘[I]n all disciplines, highly disciplinary or highly interdisciplinary were associated with a low citation rate’ 

—implying that research anchored in one discipline but supplemented or supported by others will have higher citation impact.

Things to consider in selecting a disciplinary versus interdisciplinary journal according to Claude.ai:

Disciplinary Journals:

• Typically, have more established impact factor histories
• Benefit from concentrated, specialized readerships
• Often have clearer field positioning in impact factor rankings
• May achieve higher immediate citation rates within their field

Interdisciplinary Journals:

• Often face challenges in impact factor calculations due to diverse citation sources
• Papers with higher levels of interdisciplinarity, on average, take longer time to reach their citation peak
• May have broader but more dispersed readerships

Picking the best-fit journal: Ultimately, what is your goal?

Finding the right journal is a little like match-making. There are the credentials to tick off the list, but there is also a degree of chemistry. Behind the scenes, journal editors are also on the lookout for particular topics (to include or to avoid—maybe they just accepted a paper on a similar topic and don’t want to risk redundancy). Maybe you want to target a particular audience that is more theoretically astute—or want to avoid that level of scrutiny and prefer a more practitioner-oriented reader. Maybe you are trying to reach into a niche area or simply need a paper published by the end of this calendar year. Whatever your goals are, make them explicit to yourself and your co-authors. This will speed up your selection process and help you prioritize a target journal. I suggest rank order 3-5 based on your goals.

My final thought is that it’s a misconception that you have a better chance with a lower impact journal. Fit is fit. And, in the words of Wayne Gretzky,

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

I am curious to know your thoughts and experiences selecting a journal. Please leave comments or reach out to me directly.

Footnotes 

Finally, check out my free video this month on selecting a journal. You can find it here.

I’ve also moved all my free short videos to my YouTube channel, check them out here.

I upload new content monthly so subscribe if you are interested!

And while you are at it—join the Publish It! Community and share your experiences with other academic writers. It’s free!