Determine a Journal's Significance
In every field or discipline, there are journals that scholars consider prestigious and influential. There are a few ways to find these journals in your field:
- Ask your professor to recommend journals to use for your research
- Use a scholarly journal metric like Eigenfactor to give a general overview of impact in a discipline
- Do a literature review or scan of journals in your field
Journal metrics can be used to give an overview of the research in your field. Metrics such as the impact factor look at how many articles in a journal are cited by other researchers. Scholars may criticize these metrics because they are easy to game; impact factors do not measure the value of specific articles and often too much value is placed on them. As more scholars move away from impact factors, Madigan Library recommends asking your instructor first for research journal recommendations.
For more information on journal metrics, see Declaration on Research Assessment and the European Association of Science Editors Statement on Inappropriate use of Impact Factors.
Example of Impact Factors for all JAMA Journals for 2022
Most journals will state somewhere on their website what their current impact factor is. Look on their main page, on their "about" page, or on their information page for potential authors.
In some databases, like ProQuest, you can click on a journal title hyperlink as shown below where it will take you to a page or display a box about the journal and may include it's impact factor.
Librarians provide research help to students, faculty and staff.
