Journal Metrics

Journal metrics offer a window into a journal’s reach, influence, and visibility within your field. Measures such as the Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore, and Altmetrics help you gauge a journal’s reputation and assess whether it’s the right home for your work.

Yet metrics alone don’t tell the whole story. Leaning too heavily on a single number can obscure important information—like a new journal finding its footing, sudden spikes in publication volume, or shifts in editorial practice.

Responsible Metrics

Use multiple indicators
Triangulate across metrics to build a more robust picture.
Watch out for year‑to‑year volatility and small‑sample distortions.
Interpret metrics in context
Match the metric to your discipline’s citation and publication norms.
Consider journal scope, language, and indexing coverage when weighing its scores.
Pair numbers with qualitative checks
Vet editorial‑board expertise, peer‑review rigour, ethical policies, turnaround times, and publishing practices.
Use Think. Check. Submit. to assess the journal.
Know each metric’s strengths & boundaries
Consult the Metrics Toolkit for calculation details, use cases, and caveats.
Beware of easily gamed metrics and fake metrics.

Common Journal Metrics

CiteScore

What it is

CiteScore is a journal-level metric published by Scopus (Elsevier) that reflects the average number of citations per document published in a journal over a four-year period. It covers a broader range of journals and document types than the Journal Impact Factor.

How it’s calculated

CiteScore = Citations in a given year to all documents (articles, reviews, conference papers, editorials, and more) published in the previous four years ÷ Number of documents published in those four years

Who qualifies

Any journal indexed in Scopus is eligible for a CiteScore.

Where the data comes from

Citation data is sourced from the Scopus database.

Appropriate uses

Compare journals within the same discipline
Evaluate a journal’s average citation influence

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Does not reflect the quality or impact of individual articles or authors
Doesn’t predict how often a specific article will be cited
Values vary significantly across disciplines

Where to find it

Scopus

Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

What it is

The Journal Impact Factor (JIF), published annually in Journal Citation Reports (JCR), reflects the average number of citations to recent articles in a journal. It is one of the most widely recognized journal metrics.

How it’s calculated

JIF = Citations in a given year to citable items (articles and reviews) from the previous two years ÷ Number of citable items published in those two years

Who qualifies

Only journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded or Social Sciences Citation Index (Clarivate) are eligible for a JIF.

Where the data comes from

Citation counts are based on the Web of Science Core Collection.

Appropriate uses

Compare journals within the same discipline
Evaluate a journal’s average citation influence

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Not a measure of individual article or author quality
Doesn’t predict how often a specific article will be cited
Values vary significantly across disciplines
English-language and North American journals are overrepresented
Review articles tend to inflate a journal’s JIF

Where to find it

Journal Citation Reports

SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)

What it is

SJR is a journal-level metric that reflects the influence of journals by accounting for both the number of citations received and the prestige of the journals where those citations come from. It aims to give more weight to citations from highly ranked journals.

How it’s calculated

SJR = Weighted number of citations in a given year ÷ Number of articles published in the previous three years. The set of journals are ranked according to their SJR and divided into four equal groups, with Q1 representing the highest value and Q4 the lowest.

Who qualifies

Journals indexed in Scopus are eligible for an SJR score.

Where the data comes from

SJR uses citation data from the Scopus database.

Appropriate uses

Compare journals within the same discipline
Evaluate journals’ influence beyond raw citation counts

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Does not reflect the quality or impact of individual articles or authors
Doesn’t predict how often a specific article will be cited
Prestige-based weighting may favour established journals and reinforce hierarchies
Less transparent or intuitive than other metrics

Where to find it

Scopus

SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper)

What it is

SNIP is a journal-level metric developed by CWTS (Centre for Science and Technology Studies) and available through Scopus. It accounts for differences in citation behaviour across disciplines, making it easier to compare journals from different subject areas.

How it’s calculated

SNIP = Journal’s average citation count per paper ÷ Citation potential in its subject field

It uses a field-normalized approach, so journals in disciplines where citations are less frequent (mathematics, humanities, etc.) are not unfairly penalized.

Who qualifies

Journals indexed in Scopus are eligible to receive a SNIP score.

Where the data comes from

SNIP uses citation data from the Scopus database, applying field normalization based on Scopus’ subject classifications.

Appropriate uses

Compare journals within the same discipline
Evaluate journals in fields with low citation density

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Does not reflect the quality or impact of individual articles or authors
Doesn’t predict how often a specific article will be cited
Field-normalization methods may lack transparency

Where to find it

Scopus

Helpful Resources

Altmetrics
"Altmetrics is the study and use of non-traditional scholarly impact measures that are based on activity in web-based environments. As scholarship increasingly moves online, these metrics track associated interactions and activity to generate fine-grained data, allowing researchers and policy makers to create a higher resolution picture of the reach and impact of academic research" PLOS, n.d., para. 1).
CiteScore
"Calculating CiteScore is simple and is based on the average citations received per document. CiteScore is the number of citations received by a journal in one year to documents published in the three previous years, divided by the number of documents indexed in Scopus published in those same three years" (Scopus, 29/04/2020, para. 3).
Google Scholar Metrics
"Google Scholar Metrics provide an easy way for authors to quickly gauge the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications. Scholar Metrics summarize recent citations to many publications, to help authors as they consider where to publish their new research" (Google Scholar, n.d., para. 1)

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Visit Google Scholar's, "Available Metrics" for more information: https://scholar.google.ca/intl/en/scholar/metrics.html#metrics
Journal Impact Factor
"... it is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period. The annual JCR impact factor is a ratio between citations and recent citable items published. Thus, the impact factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years" (Clarivate Web of Science, 20 June 1994, para. 3).
Metrics Toolkit
"We developed the Metrics Toolkit to help scholars and evaluators understand and use citations, web metrics, and altmetrics responsibly in the evaluation of research.
The Metrics Toolkit provides evidence-based information about research metrics across disciplines, including how each metric is calculated, where you can find it, and how each should (and should not) be applied. You’ll also find examples of how to use metrics in grant applications, CVs, and promotion dossiers" (Metrics Toolkit, n.d., para. 1)
ResearchGate Metrics
Provides information about the RG Score, Research Interest Score and h-index
Responsible Metrics
"This site aims to provide a forum for debating responsible uses of metrics in higher education & research." (Responsible Metrics, n.d., para. 1).
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)
"SJR is weighted by the prestige of a journal. Subject field, quality, and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the value of a citation.
SJR assigns relative scores to all of the sources in a citation network. Its methodology is inspired by the Google PageRank algorithm, in that not all citations are equal. A source transfers its own 'prestige', or status, to another source through the act of citing it. A citation from a source with a relatively high SJR is worth more than a citation from a source with a lower SJR" (Scopus, 21/10/2019, paras. 1-2).

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See also the information from Scimago Journal & Country Rank: https://www.scimagojr.com/help.php
Snowball Metrics
"The universities aim to agree on methodologies that are robustly and clearly defined, so that the metrics they describe enable the confident comparison of apples with apples. These metrics are data source- and system-agnostic, meaning that they are not tied to any particular provider of data or tools. The resulting benchmarks between research-intensive universities provide reliable information to help understand research strengths, and thus to establish and monitor institutional strategies. The aspiration is for these metrics to become global standards that enable institutional benchmarking, and to cover the entire spectrum of research activities" (Snowball Metrics, n.d., paras. 2-3).
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) score
SNIP measures a source’s contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field. It helps you make a direct comparison of sources in different subject fields". (Scopus, 27/02/2020, para. 1).

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Where to Publish: Journal Metrics

Journal Metrics

Common Journal Metrics

CiteScore

What it is

How it’s calculated

Who qualifies

Where the data comes from

Appropriate uses

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Where to find it

Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

What it is

How it’s calculated

Who qualifies

Where the data comes from

Appropriate uses

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Where to find it

SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)

What it is

How it’s calculated

Who qualifies

Where the data comes from

Appropriate uses

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Where to find it

SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper)

What it is

How it’s calculated

Who qualifies

Where the data comes from

Appropriate uses

Limitations and inappropriate uses

Where to find it

Helpful Resources

Related Guides

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