Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
An anthropologist citing Annual Review of Anthropology's 4.0 Journal Impact Factor and Q1 rank when contextualizing a comprehensive disciplinary synthesis for a grant application.
- Is an instance
A research library assessing participation in Annual Reviews' Subscribe to Open (S2O) renewal to ensure continuous open access for the anthropology review series without author-side fees.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Treating the journal's high review citation rate (4.0 JIF, 6.8 CiteScore) as a benchmark expectation for primary empirical field reports.
- Not an instance
Equating Annual Review of Anthropology's Subscribe to Open model with standard author-funded Article Processing Charge (APC) open-access publishing.
Editorial commentary
Quick answer: The Annual Review of Anthropology holds a Journal Impact Factor of 4.0 in the Clarivate Journal Citation Reports, ranking 3rd out of 143 journals in the Anthropology category (Q1). It maintains a 5-year Impact Factor of 5.123 and a Scopus CiteScore of 6.8. Published by non-profit publisher Annual Reviews since 1972, the journal operates under the cooperative Subscribe to Open (S2O) framework, converting volumes into open access without charging author-facing article processing fees.
The Annual Review of Anthropology (Print ISSN: 0084-6570; Online ISSN: 1545-4290) serves as a preeminent synthetic publication within the broad discipline of anthropology. Unlike journals focusing primarily on brief empirical fieldwork notes or specialized site monographs, this annual review journal synthesizes significant theoretical debates and empirical progress across the global anthropological community.
What the Journal Impact Factor measures for this review title
The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) published in Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports reflects the average annual citations received by recent papers. Because the Annual Review of Anthropology commissions comprehensive critical syntheses rather than unsolicited preliminary research reports, its articles serve as standard foundational literature across multiple subfields. Consequently, review articles accumulate citations systematically over extended academic cycles, explaining both its 4.0 2-year JIF and its higher 5-year Impact Factor of 5.123.
Metric profile and bibliographic indicators
Bibliographic and bibliometric indicators confirmed from official publishing and indexing sources include:
- Title: Annual Review of Anthropology
- Publisher: Annual Reviews (San Mateo, California)
- Print ISSN: 0084-6570; Online ISSN: 1545-4290
- Journal Impact Factor (2-Year): 4.0 (Clarivate Journal Citation Reports)
- 5-Year Journal Impact Factor: 5.123
- Category Ranking: 3rd of 143 titles in Anthropology (Q1 quartile)
- Scopus CiteScore: 6.8 (calculated over a four-year citation window)
- NLM Catalog Identifier: 356741 (Medline abbreviation: Annu Rev Anthropol)
CiteScore vs Journal Impact Factor comparison
Bibliometricians comparing Clarivate’s JIF and Elsevier’s CiteScore observe consistent patterns for the Annual Review of Anthropology:
- Citation Window: JIF records citations over a 2-year post-publication window, while CiteScore evaluates citations over four full years.
- Extended Window Dynamics: For comprehensive review publications, a 4-year window yields a substantially higher metric (CiteScore 6.8 versus JIF 4.0), as major review essays continue to guide graduate seminars and field projects over several seasons.
- Document Inclusions: Both metrics evaluate review articles as primary citable literature, solidifying the publication’s position in the top decile across international indexes.
Four-field coverage and editorial structure
The journal organizes its annual volume around the integrated four-field structure of anthropology alongside regional syntheses, maintaining critical cross-talk with archaeology:
- Archaeology: Material culture, settlement patterns, historical ecology, and heritage ethics.
- Biological Anthropology: Human evolution, bioarchaeology, paleopathology, and evolutionary genetics.
- Linguistics and Communicative Practices: Semiotics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and language documentation.
- Sociocultural Anthropology: Political economy, kinship, ethnography of institutions, and postcolonial theory.
The Subscribe to Open (S2O) publishing model
Rather than relying on author-paid Article Processing Charges (APCs) that can disadvantage scholars with limited institutional grant funding, Annual Reviews publishes the journal under the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model. Existing institutional library subscriptions collectively fund annual production costs. When institutional participation thresholds are reached, each annual volume is published open access under Creative Commons licensing, providing universal barrier-free reading access while preserving equity for contributing authors.
Responsible assessment and DORA guidelines
In accordance with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), review journal metrics must not be conflated with the research quality of individual contributors or used as evaluative benchmarks for primary empirical fieldwork. Because review literature inherently gathers higher average citation rates than specialized case studies, hiring and tenure committees must evaluate the conceptual depth, empirical rigor, and original contribution of a scholar’s portfolio rather than substituting journal rank as a metric shortcut.
Sources
- Annual Reviews, Annual Review of Anthropology Journal Aims, Scope, and Metrics, annualreviews.org/content/journals/anthro (verified 2026-11-07).
- Crossref, Bibliographic Record for Annual Review of Anthropology (ISSN 0084-6570), api.crossref.org/journals/0084-6570 (verified 2026-11-07).
- National Library of Medicine, NLM Catalog Record for Annu Rev Anthropol (ID 356741), eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi (verified 2026-11-07).
- Clarivate Analytics, Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Anthropology Category Metrics (verified 2026-11-07).
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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