Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
An international librarianship researcher evaluating IFLA Journal metrics (Clarivate JIF 1.8, Scopus CiteScore 1.4) alongside global policy readership before manuscript submission.
- Is an instance
A university tenure committee assessing an author's contribution via direct peer appraisal rather than reducing scholarship to the journal's aggregate citation impact.
Editorial commentary
Quick answer: IFLA Journal is an international journal that publishes peer reviewed articles on library and information services and on the social, political and economic issues that affect access to information through libraries. It is published for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and each issue is made open access on IFLA’s website on publication. Its Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore and SCImago quartile are republished every year by Clarivate, Elsevier and SCImago, so read the current value in those databases and treat it as a journal-level figure, as the DORA principles advise.
What Is IFLA Journal?
According to IFLA’s journal page, IFLA Journal publishes research, case studies and essays that reflect the broad spectrum of the library profession internationally. Its submission guidelines welcome articles in all fields of interest to libraries and the information professions, with a focus on reports of original research. Manuscripts may also include descriptive narratives of successful and unsuccessful ventures and thoughtful discussions of issues in librarianship. The subject area overlaps with library science and information science.
The journal is overseen by an Editorial Committee appointed by, and reporting to, IFLA’s Professional Committee. The committee manages the editorial direction of the journal in consultation with the Editor and monitors its quality. Authors are encouraged to deposit the accepted version of their manuscripts in a personal or institutional repository.
Which Metrics Are Reported for IFLA Journal?
Three independent services report indicators for journals such as IFLA Journal. Each uses a different set of indexed titles and a different citation window, so their numbers should not be compared directly.
| Indicator | Reported by | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Journal Impact Factor | Clarivate, Journal Citation Reports | Citations received in a data year to citable items published in the previous two years, divided by the number of those items |
| CiteScore | Elsevier, Scopus | Citations to documents indexed in Scopus over a multi-year window, divided by the number of those documents |
| SJR and quartile | SCImago Journal and Country Rank | A prestige-weighted citation indicator, and the journal’s quartile (Q1 to Q4) within its subject category |
Values are updated annually, and a journal’s quartile can differ between subject categories. Look up the title in each service for the current figure and year before quoting it. For a comparable journal-metrics entry, see the Heliyon impact factor overview.
Responsible Use of Journal Metrics
Under the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), journal-level metrics should not stand in for the quality of an individual article or the merit of a researcher. For a journal covering international librarianship, a figure averaged over a whole journal says little about any one paper. Reviewers are better served by reading the work itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is IFLA Journal?
It is an international journal publishing peer reviewed articles on library and information services and the issues that affect access to information through libraries.
Is IFLA Journal open access?
IFLA states that each issue is made available open access on its website upon publication. Authors are also encouraged to place the accepted version of their manuscript in a personal or institutional repository.
What is the impact factor of IFLA Journal?
The Journal Impact Factor is published each year in Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports for journals included there, and CiteScore appears in Scopus. Check those services for the current figure and its year.
What types of articles does IFLA Journal publish?
Research reports, case studies and essays, with a focus on original research, according to IFLA’s journal page.
Sources
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), IFLA Journal, https://www.ifla.org/ifla-journal/ (checked 2026-11-07).
- Clarivate, Journal Citation Reports, for the current Journal Impact Factor, https://jcr.clarivate.com/
- SCImago Journal and Country Rank, for SJR and quartile, https://www.scimagojr.com/
- San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), https://sfdora.org/read/
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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