One of my goals when I assumed the role of Editor in Chief in 2010 was to achieve a journal impact factor for the Journal of Forensic Nursing. At the time, I believed that an impact factor, long considered an established measurement of journal quality, was achievable in the second 5-year cycle of the journal. In June of this year, Thomson Reuters released the 40th annual Journal Citation Reports, the venerable resource for the evaluation of peer-reviewed publications and the source of the annual list of journal impact factors. I am very pleased to report that the Journal of Forensic Nursing received its first impact factor. An impact factors is simply defined as "a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period" (Garfield, 1994). The particular period in question is the previous 2 years. For example, the Journal of Forensic Nursing's impact factor for 2015 was calculated using the following simple formula:
The Journal of Forensic Nursing, in circulation since 2005, was evaluated in two categories: first in nursing, where it was ranked 105 of 114 journals, and second in criminology and penology, where it was ranked as 53 of 57 journals. In total, the Journal of Forensic Nursing was cited 181 times in 2015, resulting in a 2015 journal impact factor of 0.339. According to our publisher Kathleen Phelan, "for a first time score, it's very respectable" (personal communication, June 16, 2016). Considering that there are hundreds of nursing journals in circulation and only a small number are actually indexed by Thomson Reuters (Oermann, 2012), I believe this represents a notable achievement in our relatively short history.
So what does this all mean for the Journal of Forensic Nursing? Inclusion of the Journal of Forensic Nursing in Thomson Reuters Indexes is a cause for celebration, as it marks a significant achievement in the journal's history. In short, it is a "usefully simple, graspable measurement of journal influence" (King, n.d.). This accomplishment is a testament to the dedicated authors who submitted their manuscripts for review; the peer reviewers whose pursuit of excellence ensured the significance, timeliness, and rigor of the manuscripts reviewed; the members of the Editorial Board who solicited manuscripts and authored papers and contributed to the growth and development of the journal; the International Association of Forensic Nurses Board of Directors for believing in the importance of a scholarly journal to underpin the art and science of forensic nursing; and finally, to our Publisher Wolters Kluwer who put their trust in our journal when they agreed to be our publisher in 2012 and guided us to this point in our ongoing evolution.
Inclusion in Thomson Reuters indexes, and receiving our first Impact factor, is a huge accomplishment for the Journal of Forensic Nursing, one that will enhance our reputation as a relevant scholarly journal. Nonetheless, we cannot rest on our laurels, as this really is only a beginning. As such, as an Editorial Board, we will strive to gain momentum while continuing to adhere to publishing standards, endure to publish manuscripts of relevance to the unique needs of forensic nurses and the clientele in which we serve, sustain our international diversity, and through our citation analysis, continue to grow as an important and influential journal (Testa, 2016). The Journal of Forensic Nursing is considered by many to be a niche-specific journal, in comparison with, for example, the broad appeal of the American Journal of Nursing, first published in 1900 and whose 2015 impact factor is 1.605. The highest ranking nursing journal for 2015, however, is the International Journal of Nursing Studies, first published in 1963 and whose Impact Factor is 3.561. Unquestionably, the Journal of Forensic Nursing has a room to grow.
I would be remiss if I did not highlight some of the controversy surrounding impact factors that has been expressed over the years. An impact factor simply measures frequency of citations to a specific journal, but not to any specific individual article within that journal (Oermann, 2012), which according to Parse (2012), "places the quantity of citations over the quality of substance" (p. 209). Moreover, impact factors were never intended to be used to evaluate faculty members by appointment, tenure, and promotion committees and to determine research funding or resource allocations (Oermann & Shaw-Kokot, 2013; Polit & Northam, 2011), yet they have taken on "a life of their own" (King, n.d.) and are being actualized in practice for these very reasons. As such, authors are becoming more discerning in selecting journals with impact factors to showcase their research and scholarship.
One thing is certain, however, with our success in achieving our first impact factor-we can say with confidence that the Journal of Forensic Nursing is indeed a journal of influence!
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