Journal Impact Factor

Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a metric developed by Eugene Garfield in 1955 and published annually by Clarivate Analytics through Journal Citation Reports (JCR). It measures the average citation frequency of articles published in a journal over a two-year window, serving as a proxy for journal prestige and influence. A journal's Impact Factor equals the number of citations received in year Y to articles published in Y-1 and Y-2, divided by the number of citable items published in that same window. Despite widespread adoption in research evaluation, Impact Factor has significant limitations and critics argue it conflates journal prestige with article quality.