Journal impact factor
The IRRC has received its first Impact Factor in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports for Law Journals.
- See the Impact Factor
What is the impact factor?
The impact factor is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals.
It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed to be more important than those with lower ones.
Impact factors are calculated yearly for those journals that are indexed in Thomson Reuter's Journal Citation Reports.
In a given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years. For example, if a journal has an impact factor of 3 in 2008, then its papers published in 2006 and 2007 received 3 citations each on average. The 2008 impact factor of a journal would be calculated as follows:
A = the number of times articles published in 2006 and 2007 were cited by indexed journals during 2008
B = the total number of "citable items" published by that journal in 2006 and 2007. ("Citable items" are usually articles, reviews, proceedings, or notes; not editorials or Letters-to-the-Editor.)
2008 impact factor = A/B.