Correlation between the Journal Impact Factor and three other journal citation indices

Mark Elkins; Christopher Maher; Robert Herbert; Anne Moseley; Catherine Sherrington

doi:10.1007/s11192-010-0262-0

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Scientometrics

Volume/Issue:: Volume 85: Issue 1

Correlation between the Journal Impact Factor and three other journal citation indices

Authors:

Mark Elkins

Mark Elkins Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Rd, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia

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Christopher Maher

Christopher Maher The George Institute for International Health, The University of Sydney, PO Box M201, Missenden Rd, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

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Robert Herbert

Robert Herbert The George Institute for International Health, The University of Sydney, PO Box M201, Missenden Rd, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

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Anne Moseley

Anne Moseley The George Institute for International Health, The University of Sydney, PO Box M201, Missenden Rd, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

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, and

Catherine Sherrington

Catherine Sherrington The George Institute for International Health, The University of Sydney, PO Box M201, Missenden Rd, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

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Pages:: 81–93

Online Publication Date:: 30 Jun 2010

Publication Date:: 01 Oct 2010

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0262-0

Keywords:: Bibliometric analysis; Citation analysis; Impact factor

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Abstract

To determine the degree of correlation among journal citation indices that reflect the average number of citations per article, the most recent journal ratings were downloaded from the websites publishing four journal citation indices: the Institute of Scientific Information’s journal impact factor index, Eigenfactor’s article influence index, SCImago’s journal rank index and Scopus’ trend line index. Correlations were determined for each pair of indices, using ratings from all journals that could be identified as having been rated on both indices. Correlations between the six possible pairings of the four indices were tested with Spearman’s rho. Within each of the six possible pairings, the prevalence of identifiable errors was examined in a random selection of 10 journals and among the 10 most discordantly ranked journals on the two indices. The number of journals that could be matched within each pair of indices ranged from 1,857 to 6,508. Paired ratings for all journals showed strong to very strong correlations, with Spearman’s rho values ranging from 0.61 to 0.89, all p < 0.001. Identifiable errors were more common among scores for journals that had very discordant ranks on a pair of indices. These four journal citation indices were significantly correlated, providing evidence of convergent validity (i.e. they reflect the same underlying construct of average citability per article in a journal). Discordance in the ranking of a journal on two indices was in some cases due to an error in one index.

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Scientometrics

Print ISSN:: 0138-9130

Online ISSN:: 1588-2861

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Scientometrics
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1978
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	12
Founder	Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	0138-9130 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2861 (Online)