Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
For the 2025 data year, the journal's page lists AJRCCM's Journal Impact Factor as 21.7 and its five-year Impact Factor as 21.2 (Clarivate), read 29 October 2026.
- Is an instance
The same page lists a 2025 CiteScore of 25.7 (Scopus), a different metric on a different database and window, so it should not be quoted as the impact factor.
Editorial commentary
Quick answer: The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM) lists a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 21.7 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 21.2, both attributed to Clarivate on the journal’s page at Oxford University Press (checked 29 October 2026). The same page lists a 2025 CiteScore of 25.7 from Scopus. Always name the data year when you cite the figure.
AJRCCM impact factor: current value and year
AJRCCM is published by Oxford University Press for the American Thoracic Society (print ISSN 1073-449X, online ISSN 1535-4970). The journal’s own About page (checked 29 October 2026) credits Clarivate with these figures for the 2025 data year:
- Journal Impact Factor (2025): 21.7
- Five-year Impact Factor (2025): 21.2
- Category rank: 4 of 107 in Respiratory System
- Journal Citation Indicator (2025): 4.75
- Immediacy Index: 7.3
- Cited Half-Life: 9.8 years
- Eigenfactor Score: 0.05305; Article Influence Score: 7.286
The same page lists two Scopus-derived indicators: a 2025 CiteScore of 25.7 and a SNIP of 4.184. Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is the authoritative source for the Clarivate figures and is subscription-based, so the journal’s page is the practical public reference. The 4 of 107 Respiratory System rank is shown on that page without a stated data year. The journal’s page describes its focus as the pathophysiology and treatment of respiratory system diseases and of critically ill patients.
How the impact factor is calculated
Clarivate describes the Journal Impact Factor as a ratio between citations and recent citable items: citations received in the data year to items the journal published in the previous two years, divided by the number of citable items from those two years (Clarivate, The Clarivate Impact Factor, checked 29 October 2026). For the 2025 value, the numerator counts citations made during 2025 and the denominator counts items published in 2023 and 2024. See the dictionary entries for the Journal Impact Factor and for Journal Citation Reports.
Related metrics: five-year, CiteScore and Journal Citation Indicator
Five-year Impact Factor
The five-year figure (21.2 for 2025) uses a longer citation window than the standard two-year measure, which is why journals whose papers keep being cited for years often report it alongside the standard value.
CiteScore
CiteScore is calculated by Scopus rather than Clarivate, and the journal reports 25.7 for 2025. Because the two services use different databases and windows, the numbers are not interchangeable. See CiteScore and SNIP.
Journal Citation Indicator
The Journal Citation Indicator (4.75 for 2025 on the journal’s page) is a separate Clarivate measure. See Journal Citation Indicator for how it differs from the Impact Factor.
Why figures differ between websites
Impact factors are released for a specific JCR data year, so a page quoting the 2024 value and a page quoting the 2025 value will legitimately disagree. Third-party aggregator sites also frequently show values that match neither release. For AJRCCM, the 2025 values above come from the journal’s own page; when a different number appears elsewhere, check which data year it refers to and whether its source is Clarivate.
Using the impact factor responsibly
Clarivate’s own guidance cautions that the count does not distinguish between letters, reviews and original research, that review articles can raise a journal’s value, that comparisons should be made within a subject category, and that the metric should be used with informed peer review. A journal-level average says little about any single paper, and AJRCCM publishes guidelines and reviews alongside original studies, so the mix of article types affects the figure. For assessment practice that avoids relying on journal-level metrics to judge individual work, see the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
Frequently asked questions
What is the impact factor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine?
The journal’s page at Oxford University Press lists a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 21.7, attributed to Clarivate (checked 29 October 2026).
Is the five-year impact factor different?
Yes. The same page lists 21.2 for the 2025 five-year Impact Factor, which uses a longer citation window.
Why do other websites show a different number?
Impact factors are released per data year, and aggregator sites may quote an earlier year or a source other than Clarivate. Check the year and the source before comparing.
Is the impact factor the same as CiteScore?
No. CiteScore (25.7 for 2025 on the journal’s page) comes from Scopus; the Impact Factor comes from Clarivate. They use different databases and windows.
Sources
- Oxford University Press, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, About: https://academic.oup.com/ajrccm/pages/about (checked 29 October 2026).
- Clarivate, The Clarivate Impact Factor: https://clarivate.com/academia-government/essays/impact-factor/ (checked 29 October 2026).
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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