by Mary Thomas, clinical education librarian
Using Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is important because it’s the official source to find a journal’s impact factor. However, finding JCR online can be tricky, especially because JCR and Web of Science (WoS) are owned by Clarivate.
Navigating to JCR
To locate the link:
- Go to the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences’ homepage and find the Selected Resources section.
- Click on Health Sciences Resources and then the J page in the A-Z list. That’s where you’ll find Journal Citation Reports or JCR Web.
- JCR can also be accessed from WoS by clicking on Products in the top right of the homepage and then choosing JCR from the dropdown menu.
What are Journal Impact Factors?
Impact factors are a quantitative measure of the frequency with which the “average article” published in a given scholarly journal has been cited in a particular year or period; this is used in citation analysis.
Impact Factor for Journal X =
Citations in 2013 to articles published in X in 2011 and 2012
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Articles published in X in 2011 and 2012
Not all journals have impact factors, and impact factors are not the only indicator of quality. In addition, impact factors vary greatly between subject areas/disciplines.
For more information, please contact your subject liaison.