How do I find a journal's impact factor?
Answer
Journal impact factor was invented by Thomson Reuter (ISI). A journal's impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which an "average article" in that journal has been cited during a certain time period. Thomson Reuter publishes journal impact factors annually in the Journal Citation Report (JCR). The library does not subscribe to this report.
There are alternative ways to find the journal impact factor for a particular journal:
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Often the journal will publish its impact factor on its own website.
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You can also find the most high impact journals in Sci-Bytes, a Thomson Reuter newsletter archived at ScienceWatch.com. The best way to sift through these Sci-Bytes lists and find a high impact journal in your subject area is through archived pages of the University of Delaware Library's website, as captured by the Internet Archive.
To learn about the ways in which a journal's impact factor can be used, please visit the Thomson Reuter impact factor.