Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A researcher comparing Cell's reported 2-year JIF (45.1, 2025 data year) against its separately reported 5-year JIF (48.9), correctly treating them as two different metrics rather than picking whichever number is larger.
- Is an instance
An author working through the mechanical calculation -- total JCR-data-year citations to Cell's prior-two-years' citable items, divided by that item count -- to explain to a tenure or grant committee how the reported figure is derived.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Treating a reported Cell impact factor number as interchangeable with Cell Reports' JIF because both carry the Cell Press name -- they are separately indexed journals with independently computed figures that differ by roughly an order of magnitude.
- Not an instance
Citing Cell's 5-year JIF (48.9) as if it were simply a more current version of its 2-year JIF (45.1) -- they use different citation windows and are not comparable that way.
Editorial commentary
Cell’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a specific, illustrative instance of the general Journal Impact Factor metric published annually by Clarivate in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Cell is Cell Press’s founding flagship life-sciences journal, first published in 1974, and its JIF is computed and reported entirely independently of the JIF for Cell Reports — Cell Press’s separate, open-access sister journal launched in 2012 — even though both carry the Cell Press name.
What the number actually measures
The JIF is a ratio: citations received in a given year to a journal’s citable items (articles and reviews) published in the two preceding years, divided by the number of those citable items. Cell (ISSN 0092-8674) is indexed in Clarivate’s Science Citation Index Expanded and receives its own JIF on that basis, computed the same mechanical way as every other JCR-indexed title. Clarivate separately reports a 5-year Impact Factor for Cell, which widens the citation window from two years to five — the two figures are not interchangeable and should always be labelled with which window they use.
Current figures — reported by aggregators, not yet confirmed against the publisher
Third-party JCR-tracking aggregators report two distinct 2-year JIF figures for Cell: roughly 42.5 for the 2024 JCR data year (2025 release) and roughly 45.1 for the 2025 JCR data year (2026 release) — these are two different years’ figures, not two conflicting numbers for the same year. Separately, aggregators report a 5-year JIF near 48.9, which uses a five-year citation window rather than two and so is naturally a different (and here, higher) number than either 2-year figure — it should never be read as a third, more-current 2-year estimate. CASRAI attempted to verify the current (2025 data year) figures directly against Cell Press’s own metrics page (cell.com/metrics) on 16 August 2026; the page returned an access-blocked response and could not be read. Until independently confirmed against the publisher or Clarivate, treat 45.1 (2-year, 2025 data year) and 48.9 (5-year) as reported/aggregator-sourced, not primary-verified, and check jcr.clarivate.com or cell.com/metrics directly before citing either in a formal context such as a CV, grant application, or tenure file.
Worked example
If Cell published 900 citable items across two preceding years, and those items collectively received 40,500 citations in the JCR data year, the resulting 2-year JIF would be 40,500 / 900 = 45.0 — the same arithmetic Clarivate applies to every JCR-indexed journal, from a small society title to a large flagship journal like this one.
Cell vs. Cell Reports: not the same journal, not the same figure
Cell and Cell Reports are both published under the Cell Press imprint, but they are editorially and commercially distinct journals with separately computed JIFs that should never be used interchangeably. Cell is the original 1974 flagship title, subscription/hybrid, with a reported 2-year JIF in the low-to-mid 40s. Cell Reports is a newer (2012-launched), fully open-access, broader-scope journal with a reported JIF in the high-6-to-8 range across recent JCR releases — an order of magnitude lower than Cell’s.
Why this number alone is a poor stand-in for quality
Citation-tracking organizations including DORA, the CoARA coalition, and Clarivate itself caution against over-relying on a single journal-level metric to judge an individual article or researcher. A flagship journal’s JIF is heavily shaped by a small number of highly cited papers and by field-level citation norms.
Counter-example
Cell’s CiteScore (a separate Elsevier/Scopus metric using a four-year citation window and a broader document set) is not the same figure as either its 2-year or 5-year Clarivate JIF, and reporting one as if it were another is a common sourcing error. Similarly, an individual highly cited article published in Cell does not “have” the journal’s JIF — the metric is computed at the journal level, not the article level.
Related terms
- Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- Cell Reports’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- Nature’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- Nature Communications’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- Scientific Reports’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- Science Advances’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- PLOS ONE’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
- CiteScore
- DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment)
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 Cell’s current Journal Impact Factor?
Third-party JCR-tracking aggregators report Cell’s 2-year Journal Impact Factor at roughly 45.1 for the 2025 JCR data year (2026 release) and roughly 42.5 for the 2024 JCR data year (2025 release). CASRAI could not confirm the current figure directly against cell.com/metrics as of 16 August 2026 (access blocked); check jcr.clarivate.com or cell.com/metrics directly before citing it formally.
Does Cell also have a 5-year Impact Factor, and is it the same as the 2-year figure?
No, they are different metrics. Aggregators report a 5-year Journal Impact Factor for Cell near 48.9, which uses a five-year citation window rather than two, alongside the 2-year figure of roughly 45.1 (2025 data year). Both are computed the same basic way — citations in the JCR data year divided by the journal’s citable items — but over different windows, so the 5-year number is not a more up-to-date version of the 2-year one.
Is Cell’s Journal Impact Factor the same as Cell Reports’ Journal Impact Factor?
No. Cell and Cell Reports are separate journals under the Cell Press imprint with independently computed JIFs. Cell carries a reported 2-year JIF in the low-to-mid 40s, while Cell Reports carries a reported JIF in the high-6-to-8 range — roughly an order of magnitude lower.
How is Cell’s Journal Impact Factor calculated?
The JIF is a ratio: citations received in a given year to a journal’s citable items (articles and reviews) published in the two preceding years, divided by the number of those citable items.
Does an individual paper published in Cell “have” the journal’s Impact Factor?
No. The JIF is computed at the journal level, not the article level, so no single paper carries Cell’s JIF on its own.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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