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Searchers who want a “list of scientific journals by impact factor” usually need one of two things: the impact factor of a particular journal, or a way to see which journals rank highest in a field. This page explains where those figures are published, which tool measures what, and how to read a number such as 3.7 or 7.7. It does not reproduce a table of journal values: Clarivate states in its JCR Reference Guide (2025) that “Broad re-publication or free distribution of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) data is not permitted,” so any free list of impact factors is a third-party copy rather than the source.
What the journal impact factor measures
The journal impact factor (JIF) is, in Clarivate’s wording, the citations to the journal in the JCR year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of citable items (articles and reviews) published in the journal in the previous two years. The numerator counts citations to any item type; the denominator counts only articles and reviews, so editorials, letters and meeting abstracts are excluded from it. Since the 2025 release (2024 data), citations to and from retracted and withdrawn publications are excluded from the calculation. See journal impact factor and Journal Citation Reports for definitions, and how the journal impact factor is calculated for a worked walk-through.
Where to find journal lists by impact factor
Different tools publish different metrics, over different time windows, from different databases. They are not interchangeable, and a number from one cannot be compared with a number from another.
| Source | Metric | What it measures | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarivate Journal Citation Reports (JCR) | Journal impact factor, rank and quartile by category | Citations in the JCR year to the previous two years of articles and reviews | Available to journals in SCIE, SSCI, AHCI and ESCI for eligible categories; only fully indexed journals are eligible; Arts and Humanities-only categories are not ranked by JIF; new or retitled journals may be listed without a JIF; re-publication of JCR data needs Clarivate permission |
| Clarivate Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) | Field-normalized score | Mean Category Normalized Citation Impact of a journal’s articles and reviews over the most recent three years | A different quantity from the JIF, so the two numbers should not be set side by side as if they were the same scale |
| SCImago Journal & Country Rank | SJR, H index, quartiles | Citations weighted by the prestige of the citing journal; free portal built on Scopus data | Built on Scopus data, so it reflects Scopus coverage |
| Scopus | SNIP | Contextual citation impact, weighting citations by the citation potential of the subject field | A Scopus metric; the page the definition comes from does not give a cut-off for a good value |
| Google Scholar Metrics | h5-index, h5-median | Publication-level h-index over articles from a five-year window (2020-2024 in the current release, index as of July 2025) | Needs at least 100 articles published in 2020-2024 to be included; top 100 lists are ranked by h5-index, then h5-median; research-area browsing is English only |
Sources: Clarivate JCR Reference Guide 2025; Elsevier Scopus support, “What is Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)?”; Google Scholar Metrics help page; SCImago Journal & Country Rank (scimagojr.com). All checked 2026-11-07. For side-by-side reading of the metrics see impact factor vs SJR, CiteScore vs impact factor and Scopus vs Web of Science vs OpenAlex.
What is considered a good impact factor?
There is no universal cut-off. Clarivate frames a journal’s standing as its rank and quartile within a JCR category, not as an absolute number, so “good” depends on the field.
Is an impact factor of 3.7 good? Is 7.7 good?
Neither figure can be judged alone. Look up the journal’s rank in each JCR category it belongs to and read its quartile. Quartile is calculated as rank position divided by the total number of journals in the category; journals with the same JIF share the same rank and therefore the same quartile. Since the 2023 release (2022 data) the JIF is displayed to one decimal place, which creates more ties than before. A 3.7 can sit in a high quartile in one category and a lower one in another.
What are the top 10 journals by impact factor?
There is no single official top-10 list of scientific journals. The JCR ranks journals within categories, so the top ten of neurology, gastroenterology or engineering are different lists, and journals in Arts and Humanities-only categories are not ranked by JIF at all. To find a category list, search the JCR (through an institutional subscription) by category and sort by JIF, or use SJR’s subject-area and category views for a free, Scopus-based alternative. For neurology, gastroenterology or any other field, apply the same method with that category.
What is Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)?
SNIP measures contextual citation impact by weighting citations according to the citation potential of the subject field, defined by Elsevier as the average number of references per document citing that source. The aim is to make journals in fields that cite heavily comparable with those in fields that cite lightly. See SNIP and SCImago Journal Rank.
How can I calculate my impact factor?
The formula is the one given above: citations in a year to items from the prior two years, divided by the articles and reviews published in those two years. An individual author does not have an “impact factor”; the JIF is a journal-level figure, and the official value is produced from Web of Science data in the JCR. For author-level or article-level measures, see how many citations is good.
Are there new impact factor lists for 2026?
Clarivate publishes JCR data in an annual release; the 2025 release covered 2024 data. Check the JCR itself for the release currently live at your institution rather than relying on a copied list, which can mix years or metrics.
Using these lists to choose a journal
Metrics describe citation patterns, not the quality of an individual article. When shortlisting, pair a category rank with scope, indexing and peer-review fit; see how to choose a journal and Eigenfactor and Article Influence Score.
FAQ
What does the journal impact factor measure?
Average citations received in the JCR year by a journal’s articles and reviews from the previous two years, with citations to any item type in the numerator.
Why can’t I find a free official list?
Clarivate does not permit broad re-publication or free distribution of JCR data; distribution is allowed within a subscribing institution. SJR and Google Scholar Metrics are free but measure different things.
Can I compare an SJR value with a JIF?
No. They use different databases, citation weighting and windows.
Sources
- Clarivate, JCR Reference Guide 2025 (read 2026-11-07).
- Elsevier Scopus support, “What is Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)?”, elsevier.support/scopus/answer/what-is-source-normalized-impact-per-paper (read 2026-11-07).
- Google Scholar Metrics, scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/metrics.html (read 2026-11-07).
- SCImago Journal & Country Rank, scimagojr.com (checked 2026-11-07).
