Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A researcher checking science.org/journal/stm directly from a standard browser for Science Translational Medicine's current reported 2-year JIF before deciding where to submit a clinical/translational manuscript, rather than relying on an older cached or aggregator-only figure.
- Is an instance
A librarian using 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 any JCR-indexed journal arrives at its published JIF, while noting the specific number cited is from the prior (2024 data year) cycle.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Confusing Science Translational Medicine with the unrelated, similarly named Journal of Translational Medicine (BioMed Central/Springer Nature) -- these are different journals from different publishers with different JIFs.
- Not an instance
Assuming Science Translational Medicine shares a JIF with its sister AAAS publications Science or Science Advances, or citing the approximately-14.6 (2024 data year) figure as confirmed-current for the 2025 data year/June 2026 release when CASRAI's direct publisher check was blocked.
Editorial commentary
Science Translational Medicine’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). Science Translational Medicine is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) — the same publisher as Science and Science Advances, but a distinct, separately-indexed title with its own JIF.
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. Science Translational Medicine (ISSN 1946-6234 print, 1946-6242 online), launched in October 2009, is indexed in Clarivate’s Web of Science and receives its own JIF on that basis, computed the same mechanical way as every other JCR-indexed title.
Current status: publisher verification attempted and blocked
The current JCR cycle is the 2025 data year, released June 2026. CASRAI attempted to verify Science Translational Medicine’s figure for that cycle directly at science.org/journal/stm during this revision; the request was blocked by Cloudflare bot protection (a “Cookie Absent” error page was returned instead of journal content), so CASRAI cannot confirm the current, release-dated number as fact. No figure is stated as current on this page as a result. Readers who need the authoritative, release-dated 2025-data-year number should check science.org/journal/stm directly from a standard browser, or consult Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports through an institutional subscription.
What was last reported, for context
For the 2024 data year (June 2025 release), third-party JCR-tracking sources and journal-affiliated summaries reported a figure of approximately 14.6, though at least one independent aggregator listed a close but distinct figure nearer 13.6 for the same data year — a cross-tracker discrepancy CASRAI has not been able to resolve against a primary Clarivate source. Treat either number as REPORTED-tier historical context for the prior cycle only, not as this journal’s current figure.
Worked example
If a journal published 400 citable items across two preceding years, and those items collectively received 5,840 citations in the JCR data year, the resulting JIF would be 5,840 / 400 = 14.6 — the same mechanical calculation Clarivate applies to every JCR-indexed journal. This illustrates the formula only; it is not a restatement of Science Translational Medicine’s confirmed current figure.
Editorial scope
Science Translational Medicine is a weekly journal covering basic, biomedical, translational, and clinical research about human disease — a bench-to-bedside focus that distinguishes it from Science Advances’ broad multidisciplinary scope and from Science’s general-science coverage, even though all three share the AAAS publisher.
Not to be confused with the Journal of Translational Medicine
Science Translational Medicine is a distinct title from the similarly-named Journal of Translational Medicine (published by BioMed Central/Springer Nature). The two are unrelated journals from different publishers, with different scope, editorial boards, and separately computed Journal Impact Factors. Confusing the two is a real, recurring sourcing error worth checking for before citing a figure.
Why this number alone is a poor stand-in for quality
Per DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) and CoARA’s responsible-assessment guidance, this journal-level figure should not be used as a proxy for the quality of any individual article published in Science Translational Medicine or the merit of its authors. A journal’s JIF is heavily shaped by a small number of highly cited papers and by field-level citation norms, not by the quality of any one specific paper.
Related terms
- Journal Impact Factor (JIF) — the general metric this page illustrates.
- Journal Citation Reports (JCR) — the Clarivate publication a JIF is drawn from.
- CiteScore — Elsevier/Scopus’s separately computed journal-level metric, using a different citation window and eligibility criteria than JCR.
- 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 Science Translational Medicine’s current impact factor?
CASRAI attempted to verify the figure for the current JCR cycle (2025 data year, released June 2026) directly at science.org/journal/stm during this revision; the site’s bot protection blocked the request, so no current figure is confirmed. The last figure CASRAI can attribute to a specific, dated cycle is approximately 14.6 for the 2024 data year (June 2025 release), reported by third-party sources — treat that as one cycle old, not current, and check science.org/journal/stm directly before citing a number formally.
How is Science Translational Medicine’s Impact Factor calculated?
Like every JCR-indexed title, it is a ratio: citations received in a given year to the articles and reviews published in the two preceding years, divided by the number of those citable items. Clarivate applies this same formula to every Web of Science-indexed journal.
Is Science Translational Medicine the same journal as the Journal of Translational Medicine?
No. Science Translational Medicine is published by AAAS; the Journal of Translational Medicine is a separate, unrelated title published by BioMed Central/Springer Nature. They have different editorial boards, scope, and separately computed Impact Factors.
Does Science Translational Medicine share an Impact Factor with Science or Science Advances?
No. All three are AAAS publications, but each is separately indexed by Clarivate and receives its own, independently computed Journal Impact Factor. A figure for one should never be quoted as if it applied to another.
What is Science Translational Medicine’s ISSN?
Science Translational Medicine’s ISSN is 1946-6234 (print) and 1946-6242 (online/web).
Last verified 2026-08-16. CASRAI attempted direct verification against science.org/journal/stm this session; the request was blocked by the publisher’s bot protection, 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, or check science.org directly from a standard browser.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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