Neuron’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

Neuron’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). Neuron is Cell Press’s flagship neuroscience journal, first published in 1988, and its JIF is computed and reported entirely independently of the JIF for Cell and other Cell Press titles, even though all 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. Neuron (ISSN 0896-6273 print, 1097-4199 online) 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.

Current status: publisher verification attempted, current figure unconfirmed

The current JCR cycle is the 2025 data year, released June 2026. CASRAI attempted to verify Neuron’s figure for that cycle directly against Cell Press’s own pages (cell.com/neuron/home and cell.com/metrics) during this revision; the request did not return a readable page (redirect/bot-protection behavior), so CASRAI cannot confirm the current, release-dated number as fact. The figure previously cited on this page — approximately 15.0 — was reported by third-party JCR-tracking aggregators (journalmetrics.org, bioxbio.com) and Wikipedia’s infobox summary, attributed to the 2024 data year, released June 2025 — i.e. the prior JCR cycle, not the current one. That aggregator-sourced figure should not be read as Neuron’s current Impact Factor. Readers who need the authoritative, release-dated 2025-data-year number should check Neuron’s own journal page, Cell Press’s metrics page, or Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports directly.

What was last reported, for context

For the 2024 data year (June 2025 release), aggregator sources converged on a 2-year JIF of approximately 15.0 for Neuron, with a reported JCR Quartile 1 placement in neuroscience. A 5-year JIF near 16.6 was also reported by at least one aggregator (journalmetrics.org) for the same period, but that figure was not independently cross-corroborated against a second source. Treat both as REPORTED-tier historical context for the prior cycle, not as this journal’s current figure.

Worked example

If Neuron published 300 citable items across two preceding years, and those items collectively received 4,500 citations in the JCR data year, the resulting JIF would be 4,500 / 300 = 15.0 — the same arithmetic Clarivate applies to every JCR-indexed journal, from a small society title to a large flagship journal like this one. This is an illustrative calculation of the formula, not a restatement of Neuron’s current figure.

Neuron vs. Cell: related journals, separate figures

Neuron and Cell are both published under the Cell Press imprint, but they are editorially distinct journals — Cell covers life sciences broadly across a subscription/hybrid model, while Neuron is a narrower, discipline-specific title covering neuroscience — and each carries its own separately computed JIF that should never be used interchangeably. Cell’s reported JIF has historically run substantially higher than Neuron’s, reflecting different citation norms and volumes between a broad flagship title and a discipline-specific one, not a difference in editorial rigor. Always confirm which specific Cell Press title’s JCR entry is being quoted, and which release cycle it is dated to, before citing a figure in a CV or grant narrative.

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, so the same score means different things depending on what is being compared. DORA’s core recommendation is not to eliminate the JIF, but to stop treating it as a proxy for the quality of a specific paper or the merit of an individual researcher’s work.

Counter-example

Neuron’s CiteScore (a separate Elsevier/Scopus metric using a four-year citation window and a broader document set) is not the same figure as its Clarivate JIF, and reporting one as if it were the other is a common sourcing error. Similarly, an individual highly cited article published in Neuron does not “have” the journal’s JIF — the metric is computed at the journal level, not the article level, which is precisely the conflation DORA’s guidance warns against.

Related terms

• Journal Impact Factor (JIF) — the general metric this page illustrates.
• Cell’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF) — Cell Press’s broader-scope flagship journal; not interchangeable with Neuron’s own figure.
• CiteScore — Elsevier/Scopus’s competing journal-level metric, different window and denominator.
• DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) — the reform commitment behind the over-reliance caveat above.
• How to look up a journal’s Impact Factor — practical guide to finding current, release-dated figures directly from a publisher or Clarivate.
• Impact Factor vs. h-index — how journal-level and author-level metrics differ.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Neuron’s current impact factor?

CASRAI could not independently confirm Neuron’s figure for the current JCR cycle (2025 data year, released June 2026) against Cell Press’s own pages during this revision (the request was blocked). The last figure CASRAI can attribute to a specific, dated cycle is approximately 15.0 for the 2024 data year (June 2025 release), reported by third-party aggregators — that number is one cycle old, not current. Check cell.com/neuron or cell.com/metrics directly for the release-dated figure before citing one formally.

Is Neuron’s impact factor the same as Cell’s?

No. Neuron and Cell are both published under the Cell Press imprint but are editorially distinct journals, and each carries its own separately computed Journal Impact Factor that should never be used interchangeably.

What is Neuron’s ISSN?

Neuron’s ISSN is 0896-6273 for the print edition and 1097-4199 for the online edition. It is indexed in Clarivate’s Science Citation Index Expanded under this identifier, which is how it receives its own Journal Impact Factor entry in the JCR.

Is Neuron a good journal based on its impact factor?

Neuron’s reported Quartile 1 placement in neuroscience (as of the 2024-data-year cycle) indicates it was among the more highly cited journals in its field, but citation-tracking organizations including DORA, the CoARA coalition, and Clarivate itself caution against using a single journal-level metric to judge an individual article or researcher.

How often does Neuron’s impact factor change?

Clarivate publishes updated Journal Citation Reports data, including Neuron’s Journal Impact Factor, every June. The current cycle is the 2025 data year, released June 2026. Any figure cited elsewhere should be checked against that release, or against Cell Press’s own metrics page, before being used in a formal context.

Is Neuron’s Impact Factor the same as its CiteScore?

No. CiteScore is a separate Elsevier/Scopus metric that uses a four-year citation window and a broader document set than Clarivate’s JIF, which uses a two-year window. An individual article published in Neuron does not “have” the journal’s JIF, since the metric is computed at the journal level, not the article level.

Last verified 2026-08-16. CASRAI attempted direct verification against Cell Press’s own Neuron and metrics pages this session; the requests could not be completed (redirect/bot-protection behavior), so no current 2025-data-year figure is stated as fact on this page. Clarivate republishes the Journal Citation Reports every June — re-check this page after the next release.