Research

Short Answer

To stay abreast of new trends and developments in your profession, you may wish to read current issues of the leading journals in your field. You may even be looking for places to publish your own research. There are several ways to identify top journals in your field of study. The JCR and Cabell's databases can help you find information about journal impacts factors and article acceptance rates.

More info about:

• JCR
• Cabell's
• Other resources

Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

The UCA Library provides access to the JCR database, which compiles data for evaluating and comparing scholarly journals. JCR can assess a journal’s standing in scholarly literature through evaluation of citation data, and calculation of impact and influence metrics. Citation data is drawn from over 11,000 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 80 countries. The JCR Science Edition contains data about more than 8,000 journals in science and technology. The JCR Social Sciences Edition contains data about more than 2,600 journals in the social sciences. JCR calculates the most frequently cited journals, the highest impact journals, and the largest journals in a field.

JCR Metrics

Many of the most respected scholarly journals can be identified through a metric known as Impact Factor.

Impact Factor is the average number of times articles from a journal published in the past two years have been cited in the selected JCR year. The Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations in the JCR year by the total number of articles published in the two previous years. An Impact Factor of 1.0 means that, on average, the articles published one or two years ago have been cited one time. A journal with a high Impact Factor has published articles that are cited more frequently, in comparison with other lower-impact journals. Of course, you may wish to consider self-citation rates as part of your journal evaluation. A self-citation is a reference to an article from the same journal, and a common practice in scholarly publishing.

Impact Factors can fluctuate if a journal publishes more or fewer articles from year to year, or if the journal title changes. The Eigenfactor® Score measures the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year, but it also considers the source of these citations, so that highly cited journals will influence the network more than lesser cited journals. The Immediacy Index is the average number of times an article is cited in the year it is published. This metric may be especially useful when comparing journals specializing in cutting-edge research.

If you want to narrow your search, the Web of Science database can help you identify the most frequently cited articles on a specific topic. Web of Science covers over 12,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including open access journals. Search by topic to identify the most cited articles on a subject. You can also search by publication name to find the most cited articles within a specific journal.

Please note: the UCA Library does not have full text access to every article indexed in Web of Science, but some full text access is available.

Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities

Another resource for journal evaluation is Cabell’s, which covers 18 academic disciplines and includes more than ten thousand international scholarly journals. For each title indexed, Cabell’s provides

• bibliographic and contact information
• manuscript submission criteria and review process guidelines
• metrics for evaluating quality, including levels of impact/influence.

You can search by journal title, paper title, publisher, discipline, or topic. Results can be filtered by publication model (e.g.: open access), review type, impact/influence rank within Cabell’s Classification Index©,  or rank within the Difficulty of Acceptance© index. You can also assess Institutional Publishing Activity©, searching by institution name, discipline, or topic.

Cabell's Metrics

Cabell’s measures a journal’s impact and influence a little differently than Journal Citation Reports. Cabell’s Classification Index© is calculated using citation counts from the most recent three years to determine an average citation count for each journal. Cabell’s then classifies the influence of a journal into five categories determined through statistical analysis of citation counts:

• Premiere: approximately the first 10% of journals with a citation count

• Significant Influence: approximately the next 11-20% of journals with citation counts

• High Influence: the remaining journals with citation counts

• Qualified: No citation count, but published for a period of 5 or more years

• Novice: No citation count, and published for a period of less than 5 years

By assigning each journal more focused areas of specialization, Cabell’s Classification Index© metric helps users understand the influence of journals both within and across disciplines.

The Difficulty of Acceptance© index measures the varying degrees of difficulty that authors experience in seeking to get their manuscripts accepted by journals. This metric tracks how frequently journals publish articles from faculty at institutions with the highest levels of Institutional Publishing Activity©. Cabell’s provides three categories for this metric:

• Rigorous: approximately the top 10% of journals evaluated;

• Significantly Difficult: approximately includes the next 11-20% of journals evaluated;

• Difficult: accounts for the remainder of journals evaluated.

The Institutional Publishing Activity© index utilized by Cabell’s can help you to evaluate a university’s influence in scholarly communication for your discipline. Faculty from institutions with a higher Institutional Publishing Activity© rating tend to publish more articles in more highly cited academic journals than those with a lower rating.  Through analysis of citation counts and author affiliations, Cabell’s ranks institutions as Recognized (top 10%), Significant (11-20%), and High Influence, comprising the remaining institutions whose faculty members publish in journals with citation counts. If faculty members publish in journals without citation counts, but the journals are accredited by national accreditation associations, then Cabell’s labels the faculty’s institution as “accredited.”

Other Resources for Journal Evaluation

While Web of Science does index over 1,600 of the world's top-tier arts and humanities journals, Cabell’s and Journal Citation Reports do not cover scholarly journals in the humanities. For a comprehensive survey of journals in all fields of study, you may wish to consult the latest copy of Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, located at the Library Reference Desk.

Ulrich's is the authoritative source of bibliographic and publisher information on more than 300,000 periodicals, including scholarly journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, and newsletters from around the world. It covers all subjects, and includes both open access and paid subscription publications. For each periodical indexed, Ulrich’s lists

• current and previous titles
• cost
• availability of electronic versions
• subscription terms
• publisher contact information
• approximate circulation as estimated by the publisher.

If you are looking for a reputable journal in which to publish, you may wish to explore your options beyond the journals with the highest impact factor, because the most prestigious journals often have very low acceptance rates. Ulrich’s can help you identify a wider range of scholarly journals in your field and potentially increase your chances of publication.

Accrediting agencies or professional organizations may also publish or recommend journals in your field. For example, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners publishes the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (JAANP) and Journal of Nurse Practitioners (JNP). The American Political Science Association publishes the American Political Science Review. Browsing the websites of regional and national professional organizations can yield valuable information about current trends and areas of interest in your field of study.