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Correlation between the Journal Impact Factor and three other journal citation indices

Author

Listed:
  • Mark R. Elkins

    (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital)

  • Christopher G. Maher

    (The University of Sydney)

  • Robert D. Herbert

    (The University of Sydney)

  • Anne M. Moseley

    (The University of Sydney)

  • Catherine Sherrington

    (The University of Sydney)

Abstract

To determine the degree of correlation among journal citation indices that reflect the average number of citations per article, the most recent journal ratings were downloaded from the websites publishing four journal citation indices: the Institute of Scientific Information’s journal impact factor index, Eigenfactor’s article influence index, SCImago’s journal rank index and Scopus’ trend line index. Correlations were determined for each pair of indices, using ratings from all journals that could be identified as having been rated on both indices. Correlations between the six possible pairings of the four indices were tested with Spearman’s rho. Within each of the six possible pairings, the prevalence of identifiable errors was examined in a random selection of 10 journals and among the 10 most discordantly ranked journals on the two indices. The number of journals that could be matched within each pair of indices ranged from 1,857 to 6,508. Paired ratings for all journals showed strong to very strong correlations, with Spearman’s rho values ranging from 0.61 to 0.89, all p

Suggested Citation

  • Mark R. Elkins & Christopher G. Maher & Robert D. Herbert & Anne M. Moseley & Catherine Sherrington, 2010. "Correlation between the Journal Impact Factor and three other journal citation indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(1), pages 81-93, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:85:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-010-0262-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0262-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniela Filippo & Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent & Elías Sanz-Casado, 2020. "Toward a classification of Spanish scholarly journals in social sciences and humanities considering their impact and visibility," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1709-1732, November.
    2. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Oxley, Les, 2013. "Coercive journal self citations, impact factor, Journal Influence and Article Influence," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 190-197.
    3. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer & Les Oxley, 2011. "What makes a great journal great in the sciences? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(1), pages 17-40, April.
    4. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer & Les Oxley, 2012. "Journal Impact Factor, Eigenfactor, Journal Influence and Article Influence," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2012-15, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    5. Chang, C-L. & McAleer, M.J. & Oxley, L., 2010. "Journal Impect Factor Versus Eigenfactor and Article Influence," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2010-67, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    6. Waltman, Ludo, 2016. "A review of the literature on citation impact indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 365-391.
    7. de Carvalho, Gustavo Dambiski Gomes & Sokulski, Carla Cristiane & da Silva, Wesley Vieira & de Carvalho, Hélio Gomes & de Moura, Rafael Vignoli & de Francisco, Antonio Carlos & da Veiga, Claudimar Per, 2020. "Bibliometrics and systematic reviews: A comparison between the Proknow-C and the Methodi Ordinatio," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3).
    8. Alfonso Ibáñez & Pedro Larrañaga & Concha Bielza, 2011. "Using Bayesian networks to discover relationships between bibliometric indices. A case study of computer science and artificial intelligence journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(2), pages 523-551, November.
    9. Walters, William H., 2014. "Do Article Influence scores overestimate the citation impact of social science journals in subfields that are related to higher-impact natural science disciplines?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 421-430.
    10. Torres-Salinas, Daniel & Valderrama-Baca, Pilar & Arroyo-Machado, Wenceslao, 2022. "Is there a need for a new journal metric? Correlations between JCR Impact Factor metrics and the Journal Citation Indicator—JCI," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    11. Liu, Xuan Zhen & Fang, Hui, 2020. "A comparison among citation-based journal indicators and their relative changes with time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    12. Lutz Bornmann & Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "What are the top five journals in economics? A new meta-ranking," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(6), pages 659-675, February.
    13. Derek R. Smith, 2012. "Impact factors, scientometrics and the history of citation-based research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 419-427, August.
    14. Serenko, Alexander & Dohan, Michael, 2011. "Comparing the expert survey and citation impact journal ranking methods: Example from the field of Artificial Intelligence," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 629-648.
    15. Lior Rokach, 2012. "Applying the Publication Power Approach to Artificial Intelligence Journals," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(6), pages 1270-1277, June.
    16. Zewen Hu & Angela Lin & Peter Willett, 2019. "Identification of research communities in cited and uncited publications using a co-authorship network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(1), pages 1-19, January.

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