Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A researcher checking Cancer Research's last-confirmed Impact Factor (22.6, 2024 JCR data year) before deciding where to submit an oncology manuscript, while separately checking aacrjournals.org/cancerres for whether the 2025-data-year figure has since been published.
- Is an instance
A department administrator working through the worked-example calculation (total citations to the journal's prior-two-years' citable items, divided by that item count) to explain to faculty how Cancer Research, like any JCR-indexed title, arrives at its published JIF.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Confusing Cancer Research (the AACR-published peer-reviewed journal) with Cancer Research UK, the UK medical research charity -- the charity does not publish a journal and has no Journal Impact Factor.
- Not an instance
Describing a single highly cited Cancer Research article as "having" the journal's JIF -- the metric is computed at the journal level only, not attributable to one article or author, which is exactly the conflation DORA's guidance cautions against.
Editorial commentary
Cancer Research’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is the Journal Impact Factor of the flagship general-oncology journal published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), distinct from other AACR titles (Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research) and unrelated to Cancer Research UK, the funding charity of a similar name.
This JIF is one specific instance of the general Journal Impact Factor metric Clarivate publishes annually in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR); Cancer Research has been published continuously since 1916 and receives its own separate JIF each JCR release.
What the number actually measures
The JIF is a ratio: citations received in a given year to citable items (articles and reviews) the journal published in the two preceding years, divided by the number of those citable items. Cancer Research is indexed in Clarivate’s Science Citation Index Expanded and receives a JIF on that basis, alongside a separately reported 5-year Impact Factor and a JCR quartile ranking within its assigned oncology/cancer-research categories.
The most recently confirmed figure for Cancer Research’s 2-year Impact Factor is 22.6 for the 2024 JCR data year (2025 release). Clarivate’s current release cycle, as of this update, covers the 2025 JCR data year (released June 2026) — CASRAI attempted to verify a 2025-data-year figure directly against the publisher’s own journal page (aacrjournals.org/cancerres) on 16 August 2026 and the page could not be reached (access blocked). Until that figure is confirmed, treat 22.6 (2024 data year) as the last independently corroborated number, not the current one, and check aacrjournals.org/cancerres or jcr.clarivate.com directly for the 2025-data-year figure before citing it in a formal context such as a grant application or tenure file.
Worked example
If Cancer Research published 900 citable items across 2022 and 2023, and those items collectively received 20,340 citations during 2024, the resulting 2024 JIF would be 20,340 / 900 = 22.6 — the same mechanical calculation Clarivate applies to every journal in JCR, from a single-issue society title to a large multidisciplinary journal. The arithmetic is identical regardless of field; what differs is the citation and publication volume feeding it, which is one reason JIFs are not comparable across fields with different citation norms.
Why this number alone is a poor stand-in for quality
Citation-tracking organizations including DORA and the CoARA coalition caution against using a journal-level metric like the JIF to evaluate an individual article, author, or grant applicant — a single highly cited paper in Cancer Research does not mean every article in that issue was equally cited, and the JIF says nothing about the quality or rigor of any specific piece of work. It is also field-relative (oncology citation norms differ from, say, mathematics) and sensitive to a journal’s mix of article types, so it should be read alongside other indicators — such as the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) or CiteScore — rather than in isolation.
Related terms
See the general Journal Impact Factor entry for the full mechanics of the metric. For comparison, see the JIF entries for other oncology- and biomedicine-adjacent titles: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cell, and Nature. On alternative journal-level metrics, see SCImago Journal Rank (SJR).
Last verified: 16 August 2026. Clarivate refreshes Journal Citation Reports figures every June; treat any specific number on this page as time-stamped to the release named next to it, not a permanent property of the journal, and re-check the source named above after the next June release.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cancer Research’s (AACR) current Journal Impact Factor?
The most recently confirmed figure is 22.6 for the 2024 JCR data year (2025 release). Clarivate’s current cycle covers the 2025 JCR data year (released June 2026); CASRAI could not reach aacrjournals.org/cancerres to confirm that newer figure as of 16 August 2026, so check the journal’s own metrics page or jcr.clarivate.com for the current number before citing it formally.
Is AACR’s Cancer Research the same journal as Clinical Cancer Research?
No. Cancer Research is the flagship general-oncology journal published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and it is distinct from other AACR titles such as Cancer Discovery and Clinical Cancer Research — each receives its own separate Journal Impact Factor in the JCR.
Is the Cancer Research journal affiliated with Cancer Research UK?
No. Cancer Research, the AACR-published peer-reviewed journal, is unrelated to Cancer Research UK, the funding charity of a similar name — the charity does not publish this journal and the two should not be conflated when looking up impact-factor figures.
How is Cancer Research’s Journal Impact Factor calculated?
The JIF is a ratio: citations received in a given year to citable items (articles and reviews) the journal published in the two preceding years, divided by the number of those citable items. For example, if the journal published 900 citable items across two prior years and those items received 20,340 citations in the JCR data year, the resulting JIF would be 20,340 / 900 = 22.6 — the same calculation Clarivate applies to every journal in JCR.
Should Cancer Research’s Journal Impact Factor be used to judge an individual article or researcher?
No. DORA and the CoARA coalition caution against using a journal-level metric like the JIF to evaluate an individual article, author, or grant applicant, since a single highly cited paper does not mean every article in that issue was equally cited. It is best read alongside other indicators, such as the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) or CiteScore, rather than in isolation.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Cancer Research’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF)"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/cancer-research-impact-factor" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/cancer-research-impact-factor",
"name": "Cancer Research's Journal Impact Factor (JIF)",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/cancer-research-impact-factor",
"description": "Cancer Research's Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is the Clarivate-computed, journal-level citation ratio the AACR journal Cancer Research receives each year in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) -- citations in the JCR data year to the journal's citable items from the two preceding years, divided by that item count. The last independently corroborated figure is 22.6 for the 2024 JCR data year (2025 release); Clarivate's current release cycle covers the 2025 JCR data year (released June 2026), but CASRAI could not reach the publisher's own journal page (aacrjournals.org/cancerres) to confirm that newer figure as of 16 August 2026. Verify the current figure at the journal's own metrics page or jcr.clarivate.com before citing it formally. Per DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) and CoARA guidance, this journal-level figure should not be used as a proxy for the quality of any individual article published in the journal or the merit of its authors.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/responsible-assessment#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/cancer-research-impact-factor",
"sameAs": [],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"dateModified": "2026-08-17T01:18:45",
"inLanguage": "en"
}
