I always found confusing both concepts! Which one do you think is more important? I give an example: The journal of "Theoretical and Applied Climatology" has an impact factor of 2.88, but it's a Q2 journal according to Scimago (https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=14171&tip=sid&clean=0). In the other hand, "Journal of Integrative Agriculture" has an impact factor of 1.98 but it's a Q1 journal (https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21100203903&tip=sid&clean=0).
So, if we should rank both journals, which metrics should we choose? I am curious to know!
Dear Gaieth - please keep in mind that quartiles and impact factors are closely related within a certain discipline. The IFs cannot / should not be compared between different disciplines. For example, in mathematics the highest ranked journals have impact factors below ca. 8. Thus a journal with an impact factor of 2 can appear in Q1. In our discipline, chemistry, the impact factors of the highest ranked journals are in the range of 40+. Thus a journal with IF 2 is likely to be listed in Q3. Journals should only be compared within one field of research.
Ghaieth - this is a quite a common phenomenon - and a 'quirk' of the system. It depends for what purpose - but I would argue that Q-ranking is the most important for institutions. IF's vary amongst disciplines - so it is not a level playing field. In my main disciplines - a journal with an IF of 3-5 is very high. If it were, say oncology medicine, that would not be the case. Institutions, therefore, tend to encourage authors to aim for Q1-ranked journals, where they can, regardless of the IF.
Dr. Dean Whitehead - Interesting! It makes sense that different disciplines have different impact factors as every discipline has different requirements for publication and a different progress speed. However, I often see researchers aiming more towards the highest IF than the quartile ranking.
In my country, in the university, the quartile ranking is more important than the impact factor. In the same time, in some research center the impact factor taken into account with the quartile ranking.
Presentation Journal Impact Factors, Researcher h-index, How to improve r...
Both of them..
Ghaieth - I'm wondering if, with individual researchers, if the desire for high IF over Q-ranking is not more of a personal drive. Many of us are internally (and externally) competitive and/or strive to do better than last time/reach our highest potential.
Kindly check https://www.mondragon.edu/en/web/biblioteka/publications-impact-indexes
Dear Gaieth - please keep in mind that quartiles and impact factors are closely related within a certain discipline. The IFs cannot / should not be compared between different disciplines. For example, in mathematics the highest ranked journals have impact factors below ca. 8. Thus a journal with an impact factor of 2 can appear in Q1. In our discipline, chemistry, the impact factors of the highest ranked journals are in the range of 40+. Thus a journal with IF 2 is likely to be listed in Q3. Journals should only be compared within one field of research.
Dear Prof. Frank T. Edelmann - You are absolutely right! But, some journals cover different disciplines, while the get one overall quartile ranking like the 2 example journals I gave in my initial post. That also is misleading!
Dear @Ghaieth Ben Hamouda The Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor is a widely recognized indicator of importance of a journal.
Thanks!
Dear Ghaieth Ben Hamouda ,
The ‘explanation’ for your Q value mystery can be found when you scroll down on the SCImago page, here you see that the Q1 quartile for the journal “Journal of Integrative Agriculture” is for their best quartile which appears in this case to be in the field of Animal Science and Zoology while the best quartile (Q2) for the journal “Theoretical and Applied Climatology” is in Atmospheric Science. So not an overall quartile.
Honestly, I never realized this. To me this strengthens the idea that all these values (impact factors, Q values etc.) are interesting and somewhat indicative, but certainly should not be considered as an irrefutable fact when it comes to the true value and impact of a journal (and certainly not when talking about an individual paper).
Best regards.
PS. But if I am ‘forced’ to choose I would say the impact factor (Clarivate/SCIE indexing) with, as said here, keeping in mind the particular discipline.
Dear Ghaieth Ben Hamouda quartiles ranking is related to Scopus and it is calculated based on Scopus database. Whereas, impact factor is related to WOS and is calculated based on WOS database. So in case the journal is not indexed in WOS and just indexed in Scopus, Quartiles ranking is recommended to be used.
I think the both are important to assess the quality of journal in a specific scope.
hi
i think both are positively correlated with each other....because quartiles rank the journal Q1..Q2..Q2...and oll....based on their impact factors...so both necessary...
hi! I think you should look for the impact factors and quartiles within your field because overall it could be highly biased. Some journals with IF less than 2-3 can still be the most relevant in a particular subject. In my opinion it should not be used to value papers or researchers alone. Cheers, Antonio
Thank you all for your answers! Very interesting point of views on the subject
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