I am delighted to announce that JNPT has been awarded an initial Journal Citations Reports (JCR) Impact Factor of 2.2 by Thompson Reuters. In the category of Rehabilitation JNPT is ranked 11 of 62. This 2011 Impact Factor is based on Thompson Reuters review of the number of citations of articles published in JNPT in 2009 and 2010. As part of this success, JNPT is now indexed in ISI Web of Science, with indexing going back to first issue of 2009 (volume 33, number 1) and can be accessed via individual indices including Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch), Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, and Neuroscience Citation Index. (Note that these indices are in addition to MEDLINE and CINAHL in which JNPT has been indexed for some time.)
Since learning that we had acquired an Impact Factor, I've had several happy opportunities to announce this news to audiences that have included JNPT readers, reviewers, and Editorial Board members, and have received a number of great questions about what this all means, and why the Editors have dedicated so much energy to the effort to acquire an Impact Factor in recent years. I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk a bit about the Impact Factor, what it means, why it's important to JNPT, and also discuss its limitations.
If you have attended the annual "Chat With the Editorial Board" at the Combined Sections Meeting lately, then you know that the acquisition of an Impact Factor has been the Number 1 strategic priority for the JNPT Editors in recent years. A journal is considered for Indexing by JCR based on a review of the journal's editorial standards, timely publication of original research, and international representation. With this in mind, the Editors undertook a number of efforts to excel in these criteria, including comprising an international Editorial Board, creating a journal policies and procedures manual, developing reviewer guidelines, adding a host of excellent international reviewers, and committing to an annual special issue to target timely, high-impact topics. So...
WHAT IS THE IMPACT FACTOR?
In a nutshell, JCR calculates JNPT's 2011 Impact Factor by counting the total number of times in 2011 that 2009/2010 JNPT articles were cited, and dividing this total number of citations by the number of articles that were published in JNPT in 2009/2010, in other words, the 2-year citation count divided by 2-year article count.
WHY IS THE IMPACT FACTOR IMPORTANT?
The Impact Factor is currently the most widely used of several approaches to quantifying the impact of a journal on its field of study. As such, experienced authors usually consider a journal's Impact Factor when deciding where to submit their manuscripts. For this reason, a good Impact Factor is important for attracting high-quality submissions.
WHAT TYPES OF ARTICLES CONTRIBUTE MOST TO A GOOD IMPACT FACTOR?
The most highly cited articles are those that are of high quality in terms of validity, originality, and contribution to the topic area. Systematic review articles are among the most highly cited article types. At the opposite end of the spectrum, case studies are typically not highly cited; however, a creative and truly unique case study that addresses a genuinely novel topic can be an exception and may be highly cited.
WHAT STEPS ARE THE EDITORS TAKING TO OBTAIN AN EVEN HIGHER IMPACT FACTOR IN THE NEXT REVIEW CYCLE?
The fact that JNPT now has an Impact Factor (and a very respectable one at that) will likely draw even more high-quality submissions. Moreover, JNPT is undertaking 3 new initiatives that are aimed at attracting excellent authors and submissions. First, since the Impact Factor is based on an annual citation rate, it is in the best interest for a journal to have a publication cycle that begins early in the year. So, beginning in January 2014, JNPT's quarterly publication dates will change to January, April, July, and October (from the current schedule of March, June, September, and December). Second, in the submission process for research articles, we will prepare authors for the day in the future (date yet to be determined) when prospective registration of clinical trials is a prerequisite for publication in JNPT (as is currently the case for some other journals). Third, in an effort to attract excellent submissions from outside the Neurology Section, a free, 1-year online subscription will be offered to nonmember authors and reviewers.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE IMPACT FACTOR?
One thing that the JNPT Editors always keep in mind when making decisions about publication is that despite the importance of the Impact Factor for attracting quality submissions with high potential for citation, there may be little relationship between an article's potential "citability" and its potential for meaningful impact on clinical practice. Beyond this, the Impact Factor represents a composite score of a journal's value to other authors in the field; as such, it does not capture the impact, quality, and importance of individual articles.
Fortunately, as you probably can tell from what I've described so far, many of the things that result in a good Impact Factor are also things that would naturally be desired by the readers of JNPT. However, there are points on which the wish to maintain a good Impact Factor may differ from the wishes of the reader; one point that comes to mind is the number of articles published. As is apparent from the way the Impact Factor is calculated, there is no advantage to publishing a large number of articles unless they are of high quality and potential impact. Let's say that a hypothetical journal has such a high rejection rate that they accept and publish only 1 article in 2012 and 1 article in 2013, but in 2014 each of those two articles was cited 50 times. That journal would have an outstanding 2014 Impact Factor of 50 (ie, 100 citations/2 articles). Clearly readers of JNPT would be dissatisfied if the journal published only 1 article each year in an effort to score a high Impact Factor.
The Editors affirm our dedication to maintaining high standards of quality that the readers have come to expect from JNPT. At the same time we are committed to identifying submissions that have potential to make a meaningful contribution to clinical practice, even if they are not likely to be highly cited. Thank you to all who contribute to the success of our journal, most especially thanks to the outstanding authors who have submitted their best work to JNPT even in the absence of an Impact Factor, and to the Editorial Board members and reviewers who contribute so much to the quality of the articles in our journal.
Audio Podcast available (see Podcast, Supplemental Digital Content, available at: http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A30).