What's a journal?

A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles written by researchers,

professors and other experts. Journals focus on a specific discipline or field
of study. Unlike newspapers and magazines, journals are intended for an
academic or technical audience, not general readers.
Each copy is an issue; a set of issues makes a volume (usually each year is
a separate volume). Like newspapers and magazines, journals are also
called periodicals or serials.

Journal ranking

Journal ranking is widely used in academic circles in the evaluation of an academic

journal's impact and quality. Journal rankings are intended to reflect the place of a
journal within its field, the relative difficulty of being published in that journal, and the
prestige associated with it.

1. Impact factor
Impact Factor: average number of cites per year:
cites in year x to recent papers in the journal
recent papers in the journal
recent = published from year x-2 to x-1 (impact factor)
or
published from year x-5 to x-1 (5-year impact factor)

2. (Q=quartile)
-Position of journal within the subject category
-Q1 until Q4 in category

-Number of Publications in the best JCR Journals (Q1-Q2)

-Example: Quartile Q2 in Biology or Position 24/76 in Biology
-But the IF measures the average impact of a journal, not the true impact of a paper or
a researcher.
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