A modification of citation-based journal indexes

Hui Fang ()
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Hui Fang: Nanjing University

Scientometrics, 2023, vol. 128, issue 2, No 10, 1119-1132

Abstract: Abstract The journal indexes currently used to rank journals adopt a short citation window, which has long been criticized. In particular, journals with a prolonged impact are underestimated by this method. By combining the features of synchronic and diachronic journal impact factors, Fang (Scientometrics 125:2265–2282, 2020) proposed the integral synchronic journal impact factor (IIF). The citation window of the IIF can be enlarged without reducing the index value. Therefore, the IIF can effectively and fairly reflect the impact of journals with different citation patterns on the scientific community. To overcome the defect that the IIF might be unstable if a journal publishes few papers in individual years, this work modifies the IIF by borrowing the idea of the new CiteScore: using the citation counts of the adjacent previous years to assist in evaluating the impact level of the journal in the focal year. The modified index can be regarded as a combination of the JIFs and CiteScore. The experimental results show that the modified journal index is more stable over time than the IIF while retaining the associated advantages.

Keywords: Journal index; Citation; Publication-citation interval; Citation window; Stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-022-04594-1

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