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How to Calculate Impact Factor of A Scientific Journal and An Example
Defining the Field:
#1
Impact Factor (IF) of a scientific journal is a measure used to reflect the overall average quantity of citation on articles published in the specific journal. Impact factor (IP) is always used to measure the significance of a specific journal within a particular research field (Sven, 2015)
#2
Impact Factor (IF) is a method for measuring the frequency with which the average article in a specific journal was cited in a particular year (Claude Moore Health Sciences Library,2016).
Methods of Calculating Impact Factor (IP)
Many researchers are very interested in how to calculating impact factors. There are various ways to find, locate or calculate impact factors:
For example: if there are 500 articles published in a journal in 2009-2010 and there are 1000 citations of articles
from this journal in 2011 the Impact Factor'2011 is 2 (number of published articles/number of citations).
The IF of a particular journal is dynamic and thus changing each academic year.
You can calculate the IF by using mathematical formula:
Number of published articles/Number of citations
Example: If Journal of American Academic research (JAAR) published 216 articles in the year of 2015, and the
citations of the articles for JAAR in 2015 is 261.
JAAR Impact Factor= Number of published articles/Number of citations
= 261 (citations in 2015)/216 (published articles in 2015)
= 1.208
No.1: To calculate the IF, first use the number of papers published in the journal during the same period to divide the total quantity of citations in one year.
No.2: Most of libraries, scientific database could generate scientific report with author name, times cited, impact factor and article ranking, etc.
No.3: Calculate and re-calculate the impact factor of a journal by using complex and various method.
No. 4: Go to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to locate Impact Factors (IP). JCR also lists journals and their impact factors and ranking in the specific field of content.
No. 5: Using step by step method to look for both author, institution, impact factor and frequency of citation.
Example of How to Find and Locate Impact Factor (IP)
Step by Step:
Step #1:
Go to WorldCat, scientific library’s home page, Thomson Reuters (ISI), or JCR home page.
Step #2:
Search for key words that matches name of scientific journal or specific article.
Step #3:
Go to journal profile and enter your journal title or abbreviation and click on search tab.
Step #4:
Locate journal details such as materials type, document type, all authors/contributors, ISSN, OCLC number, other titles and impact factors.
References
Sven (2015). 10 Simple Strategies to Increase the Impact Factor of Your Publication. Retrieved from http://www.smartsciencecareer.com/increase-the-impact-factor-of-your-publication/
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library (2016). How do I find the impact factor and rank for a journal? Retrieved from https://www.hsl.virginia.edu/services/howdoi/hdi-jcr.cfm
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