Web of Science is one of the largest scientific databases used by researchers, libraries and institutions to analyse scientific publications. One of the main advantages of this platform is the ability to assess the impact of scientific journals and publications in the academic environment. For this purpose, various metrics are used to measure the productivity and significance of publications based on citations and other scientific activity. In this article, we will review the main metrics of Web of Science and find out their features.
1. Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is one of the most widely used metrics that assesses the impact of scientific journals in the Web of Science database. It measures the average number of citations of articles published in a journal over the past two years.
Calculation formula:
In other words, the Impact Factor gives an idea of how many times articles from a particular journal have been cited over a certain period. The higher the score, the more cited and influential the journal is in its field. For example, journals with a high JIF are generally considered to be more prestigious and authoritative. To learn more about the features of this indicator, its types and application, read (our article) on this topic.
2. Journal Citation Indicator (JCI)
The Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) is a relatively new metric that appeared in 2021. This indicator provides an objective assessment of journal citations, adapting it to different scientific disciplines. The key advantage of the JCI is that it provides a more accurate assessment of the citation of journals, taking into account the scientific disciplines to which they belong.
The fact is that each scientific field has its own standards for interpreting the concept of ‘high citation level’. Therefore, it is important to take an individual approach to the analysis to avoid situations where a journal from one discipline looks less significant due to differences in citation compared to other fields of knowledge. For this purpose, JCI uses a special metric - Category Normalised Citation Impact (CNCI). It allows comparing the citation of scientific publications in a particular journal with the global average for each discipline.
Key features of the JCI:
- Normalisation by industry: The JCI takes into account different scientific fields, types of documents (articles, reviews) and year of publication to ensure a correct comparison.
- Value of 1.0: A value of 1.0 means that publications in the journal have received the average number of citations for their field. A value above 1.0 indicates that the citation rate is above average, and a value below 1.0 indicates that the citation rate is below average.
- Ease of comparison: This single value is easy to interpret and compare with other journals, which helps in assessing scientific impact.
Thus, the JCI allows for an objective assessment of the impact of a journal, taking into account the specifics of each scientific field.
3. Eigenfactor Score
Eigenfactor Score is a metric that measures the overall impact of a journal. It takes into account the number of citations of journal articles, but also takes into account which journals cite these articles. This approach focuses on the importance of citations, because citations from influential and reputable journals are considered more important than citations from lesser-known publications.
Advantages of the Eigenfactor Score:
- Taking into account the citation network: this indicator is calculated by modifying the PageRank algorithm, which uses citations between articles in publications. Scientific journals that are cited by other influential journals receive a higher ranking. This allows us to take into account not only the number of citations, but also their context: the higher the authority of the source that cites the publication, the greater its influence.
- Calculation for 5 years: to calculate the Eigenfactor Score, a five-year period is used, which allows us to assess the impact of a scientific journal in the long term, rather than just the number of citations in one year.
- Additivity: As this indicator is additive, you can add the values of different journals to get the total impact score. For example, if you want to get an overall impact score for a group of journals in different scientific disciplines, you can simply add up their Eigenfactor Scores.
This makes it possible to analyse the overall impact of groups of journals or even compare the impact of journals from different disciplines by adding their scores.
The peculiarity of the Eigenfactor is that it not only measures the number of citations, but also assesses their quality. This indicator allows you to better understand the scientific significance of a journal in a global context, not just based on simple quantitative characteristics.
4. Article Influence Score
Article Influence Score determines the average impact of journal articles during the first five years after their publication. That is, this indicator takes into account how many citations each article receives within 5 years after publication.
It is worth noting that the calculation of the Article Influence Score is based on the Eigenfactor Score, but with a focus on each individual article. The result is an indicator that reflects the relative impact of each article, not just the journal as a whole.
To calculate the Article Influence Score, you need to:
- Multiply the Eigenfactor Score by 0.01.
- Then divide the result by the number of articles in the journal.
However, in order to find out the nature of the calculation result (high or low), it must be compared with the average value for all journals.
How to do this: the average Article Influence Score for all journals in the Web of Science database is 1.00. If a journal has a score of more than 1, it means that the impact of its articles is higher than that of other journals. If the value is less than 1, it means that the articles in this journal are, on the contrary, less influential than in other journals.
The metrics used in Web of Science are powerful tools for measuring scientific impact and productivity. The above-mentioned indicators help not only to assess the citation of scientific publications but also to find out their weight in the scientific community.
If you do not know how to choose a scientific journal for publication in Web of Science, contact "Scientific Publications". Our experts will advise you and select the publication for publication according to your needs. To get a free consultation, fill out the form below, and our manager will contact you shortly. Together to new scientific achievements!
