Increased Impact Factor announced

In June 2019, the Web of Science Group, part of Clarivate Analytics, released the update to its annual Journal Citation Reports reflecting data from the 2018 publishing year.

The Journal Citation Reports (Web of Science Group, 2019) are annually compiled to aggregate the meaningful connections of citations created by the research community through the delivery of a rich array of publisher-independent data, metrics and analysis of the world’s high-quality academic journals.

These metrics include the Journal Impact Factor and category rankings.  The Journal Citation Reports calculate these metrics based on a variety of criteria, including the number of citations each article receives in other journals.  Librarians, researchers, and tenure committees consider Journal Impact Factor rankings among the factors that determine a journal's benefit to and cache within the scholarly community.

The 2018 Journal Impact Factor ranking forSocial Problems placed it among the top 20 journals in all of sociology—with an impact factor of 2.789.  The 5-Year impact factor of 3.435 speaks to the enduring quality of the journal and the lasting importance of its content to the field, especially as the number sociology journals continues to grow over time.  In celebration of this accomplishment, a collection of highly cited articles is now freely available. 

While these rankings do not provide the entire picture of a journal, including its peer-review process, its history, or value to a niche audience, they do relay a journal’s overall discoverability, relative significance in the field, and timeliness of content—aspects that result from the hard work and foresight of its editorial office, a healthy society membership and reader base, and a diligent publisher able to utilize every means possible to enhance visibility in a digital environment. Social Problems’ ongoing ranking among the highest-cited journals warrants hearty congratulations to the Editors of Social Problems -- past and present -- and their teams, whose efforts have ensured that Social Problems remains one of the most influential outlets in our discipline!

Posted by Caitlin Mize - Friday, 06/28/2019, 11:58 AM - Comments - Category: Member News