How can one verify that the impact factor shown by any webpage is correct and not forged in some way?
Say for URL https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=9424
I accept that it is a prestigious journal, so I trust it, however, if a fellow from different research as me a proof of impact factor.
Any fake website show some random impact factor. How can we validate if it is genuine or not.
We can search master journal list on web of science URL is
https://mjl.clarivate.com:/search-results?issn=1551-3203
But still, we cannot verify the impact factor? As it shows previous data. So, in a way, any journal can fake impact factors for 3 years.
Dear ,
It is indeed important to check information provided by (some) journals. If you are aware how it works then you can be pretty sure that the information is correct. An impact factor is only assigned by Clarivate and is only assigned once a journal is indexed in their SCIE (or SSCI) database. As you mentioned one can check in which database (if any) of Clarivate the journal of interest is indexed: https://mjl.clarivate.com/home (this one is for free).
I hardly ever see a journal ‘lie’ about the exact value of the impact factor, so if you can confirm that a journal is indexed in SCIE you can be pretty sure about the impact factor information. But thanks to RG one can always find the most recent list of impact factors (see enclosed file). By the way the impressive 9.112 impact factor mentioned by the IEEE journal you talked about is (of course) correct.
You touched another important point: be aware that some (predatory) journals prominently mention impact factors which are fake, these are called misleading metrics, see for examples of the most notorious ones like CiteFactor, DRJI etc.: https://beallslist.net/misleading-metrics/
Best regards.
PS. Do keep in mind to check the suppressed title list that is released by Clarivate once a year (while Scopus discontinue titles a couple of times a year). It is free accessible on their site but see enclosed file as well.
PS. Keep in mind that within two weeks or so the new list(s) are released by Clarivate.
To verify the genuinity of impact factor displayed , you have to check the journal quality i.e. whether the journal is predatory ?Check the standard list of publisher . Many journals print the boosted impact factor. So check the Scopus list of journal with impact factor.
@Prateek Only those journals which are index in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) by Web of Science bear impact factor. All other claimed impact factor by sub standard journals (not indexed in any of the above indexing) are not impact factor. Even the journals indexed in Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) by Web of Science are eligible for impact factor. For checking any journal's impact factor, you can go for journal citation report (JCR) from master list of journals by Clarivate using institutional login access.
https://mjl.clarivate.com/search-results
Dear Imran Anwar
One little correction, though the AHCI is indeed a highly respected index it is, for various reasons, still not the case that a journal indexed in AHCI is rewarded with an impact factor, see:
https://clarivate.com/blog/the-road-to-journal-citation-reports-2021-new-content-and-a-new-metric/
Best regards.
For those interested. See the enclosed file for the new list of impact factors (released today).
Best regards.
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I feel that https://journalimpact.org is an excellent platform for verifying the impact factor of journals
What do you say?
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