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SOCI 151: Introductory Sociology

Prof. Light Carruyo, Spring 2024

Impact Factor Basics

Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a measure of the frequency in which the "average article" from a particular journal has been cited in a given period of time. Web of Science provides the JIF; hover over the journal title in the results list or item record to view the journal's impact factor and quartile ranking. 

Journal Quartile Rankings are perhaps a more useful metric and are calculated by dividing the JIF by the number journals in that disciplinary category to assign the quartile; Q1 contains journals with the most citations; Q4 with the least. 

NOTE: Citation metrics are imperfect, and provide just one way that scholars evaluate the relative quality of a journal. See the ACT UP method for evaluating sources. The relevancy to your research question, and the article's contribution to the scholarly conversation are both more important than the JIF. 

Image from University of Denver Libraries

Web of Science: Highly Cited & Hot Papers

Web of Science provides the total number of times a published work was cited by other works. The Times Cited view sorts results so that items with the highest numbers of citations are at the top of the results list. 

In addition, Web of Science provides filters to limit results to Highly Cited and Hot Papers. 

Highly Cited Papers are papers that perform in the top 1% based on the number of citations received when compared to other papers published in the same field in the same year.

Hot Papers are papers published in the last two years that are receiving citations quickly after publication. These papers have been cited enough times in the most recent bimonthly period to place them in the top 0.1% when compared to papers in the same field.