Impact Factors

Impact factors are statistical measures used to compare journals. Calculation is based on the average number of times articles published in a journal were cited in a year. The Institute for Scientific Information calculates Impact Factors for some 7000 journals and publishes these figures in Journal Citation Reports.

To find the impact factor for a journal or group of journals, go to WHSC Library web site, link to "Databases," and select Journal Citation Reports

• Select edition (Science or Social Science) and year. Mark option to either view a group of subject-related journals, a specific journal title, or all journals.
• Select or enter criteria on search page (browse and mark a subject category, or enter a specific journal title).
• “Journal Summary List” will display title(s) with rank, impact factor, immediacy index, and other criteria. Use sort function to change from alphabetical to other types of sorting (impact factors, immediacy, number of articles)
• Use “Help” function (glossary) to see definitions and how values are calculated.