Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A research administrator evaluating faculty scholarship noting a meta-analytic review in Psychological Bulletin with a Clarivate Journal Impact Factor of 19.9 (Q1, 98th percentile).
- Is an instance
A meta-analyst assessing publication outlets who notes Psychological Bulletin's 5-year Impact Factor of 31.8 as evidence of enduring methodological influence.
Editorial commentary
Psychological Bulletin is a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association (APA) that publishes research reviews and interpretations of issues in scientific psychology. The journal dates from 1904, and APA describes it as published monthly. Rather than reporting single experiments, it publishes syntheses that draw overall conclusions from many separate investigations, including quantitative meta-analyses across the subfields of psychology. Its print ISSN is 0033-2909 and its electronic ISSN is 1939-1455.
Psychological Bulletin impact factor
The Psychological Bulletin impact factor (searched for as well as “psychology bulletin impact factor”) is a Clarivate Journal Citation Reports (JCR) metric. APA’s journal page lists a two-year Journal Impact Factor of 19.9 and a five-year impact factor of 31.8 (page checked 2026-11-07). JCR figures are re-issued each year, so confirm the current release in JCR before quoting a number in a report or application. For comparison with a very different kind of venue, see the Scientific Reports impact factor.
How the impact factor is calculated
The two-year Journal Impact Factor is a ratio of recent citations to recent citable items:
JIF = (Citations in year T to items published in years T-1 and T-2)
/ (Citable items published in years T-1 and T-2)The five-year version uses the same ratio over a five-year window. A five-year figure higher than the two-year figure, as for this journal, means its articles keep being cited beyond the first two years after publication.
What the journal publishes
Scope is review and synthesis. Researchers preparing such reviews commonly build their literature base with structured PsycINFO search strategies and scan preprints on PsyArXiv.
Responsible use of journal metrics
Responsible research assessment frameworks such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and the Leiden Manifesto advise against judging an individual paper or researcher by the journal’s impact factor. A journal-level average says little about the validity of any one article, and citation habits differ between fields, as in psychology vs psychiatry. Assess the work itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is the impact factor of Psychological Bulletin?
APA’s journal page lists a two-year impact factor of 19.9 and a five-year impact factor of 31.8 (checked 2026-11-07).
Is “psychology bulletin” the same journal?
People often search “psychology bulletin impact factor” when they mean Psychological Bulletin, the APA journal described here.
Who publishes Psychological Bulletin?
The American Psychological Association, which describes it as a monthly journal.
What kind of articles does it publish?
Research reviews and syntheses, including meta-analyses, rather than single empirical studies.
Sources
- American Psychological Association, Psychological Bulletin journal page: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/bul (checked 2026-11-07).
- Clarivate, Journal Citation Reports: https://jcr.clarivate.com/ (checked 2026-11-07).
- Wikidata, Psychological Bulletin (founding year): https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1634280 (checked 2026-11-07).
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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