CLASSIFICATION OF JOURNALS

W H AT A R E T H E D I F F E R E N T C L A S S I F I C AT I O N S F O L L O W E D
BY JOURNALS?

• Scientific journals are classified and ranked, and these classifications and rankings are
key for authors, publishers and journal editors.
• The ranking of journals is common in academia and journal rankings count when a
researcher is putting forward their file for retention, tenure and promotion.
• Researchers aim to publish in top-tier and high-ranking journals. So it is important for
them to know how a journal is classified and ranked. This helps them when choosing a
journal to which they will submit their work.
• Publishers and editors are interested in the ranking for their journal because high-tier
journals attract more seasoned and prolific authors. 
 SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTES

• Scimago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) develops journal rankings and uses the Scopus database.

• This platform takes its name from the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator, developed by SCImago from
the widely known algorithm Google PageRank™.

• The SJR measure incorporates both the number of citations received by a journal and how prestigious or
high tier the journal of originating citations is.
 QUARTILES

 Journals are also categorised into four quartiles: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
 Journals in Q1 and Q2 are considered top-tier journals while the lower-tier journals are
classified as Q3 and Q4.
 Q1 and Q2 journals have a higher impact factor than Q3 and Q4 ranked journals.
 Some of the factors considered in the categorization include the aim and scope of the
journal, the quality of its board, the impact factor, external opinions about the journal
and quality of the papers. 
 The number of citations for journal publications is an influencing factor, called the
impact factor, which is used to rank journal ranks. Several journal-level metrics have
been developed. The majority of these are based on citations.
 IMPACT FACTOR AND CITESCORE

The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the • Major difference between CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor:
average article in a journal has been cited in a specific year. The
• CiteScore calculation is based on Scopus data, while Impact Factor is based
calculation is conducted by dividing the number of times articles
on Web of Science data.
were cited by the number of citable articles.
• CiteScore uses a 4-year window while Impact Factor adopts a 2-year window.
 CiteScore was developed in 2016 by Elsevier. It reflects the
• CiteScore includes more document types indexed by Scopus, including articles,
yearly average number of citations of recent articles published in reviews, conference papers, data papers and book chapters; while Impact Factor
that journal. CiteScore is based on the citations recorded in only includes "citable documents" which are articles and reviews.
the Scopus database and citations are collected for articles
published in the preceding four years instead of two or five.
 STEPS TO FIND CITESCORE AND
JOURNAL RANKING IN SCOPUS
 Step 1. Go to Scopus and click "Sources" at the top of the page.
 Step 2. Under "Title", type in the journal title in the search box and click
"Find sources".

 Step 3. You will find the CiteScore of the journal on the page.

You may also click on the journal title to see more details, e.g. how the
journal's CiteScore is calculated, the ranking of this journal in relevant
subject categories.