Researchers and higher degree students often ask their liaison librarians for guidance regarding which journal they should submit possible articles to. For higher degree students the best people to provide this guidance is your supervisor. Librarians can however assist in the identification of possible journals within a specific field of research and will sometimes use the Journal Citation Reports database for this purpose.

The Journal Citation Reports are a major source of citation data on journals in the areas of science and social sciences. You can search the Journal Citation Reports by specific title or by subject category.

The Journal Citation Reports database has recently been updated and the 2008 Journal Impact Factors are now available. The Impact Factor allows you to evaluate and compare the 7,500 scholarly journals indexed in the Web of Science and can show you:

* Most frequently cited journals in a field * Highest impact journals in a field * Largest journals in a field

“You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data are not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format, publication schedule, and subject specialty.” Thomson Reuters

If you have any questions regarding the Journal Citation Reports database or journal impact factors, please contact your Liaison Librarian.