Toward the end of June every year, journal publishers and editors anxiously await the release of Journal Citation Reports, a comprehensive analysis that ranks over 20,000 journals on the basis of one metric: the average number of times the articles published in that journal are referenced in the academic literature. That metric is called the Journal Impact Factor and is produced by Clarivate, a “leading global provider of transformative intelligence.” There are other companies that generate Journal Impact Factors, so be sure to know the source when assessing a journal solely on Impact Factor to make a fair comparative judgment.
Like editors-in-chief the world over, I was curious to find out how JAVMA and AJVR fared in the latest Clarivate stakes race. JAVMA came in at 1.6, which means that the average number of 2023 citations (references) to articles published in 2021 and 2022 was 1.6, placing us in Quartile 2 and 62nd of 167 veterinary science journals. JAVMA’s 366 articles published in 2021 and 2022 were cited 581 times during 2023. AJVR scored 1.3, also placing us in Quartile 2 and 78th of the same 167 journals, with 337 citations to 251 published articles.
How do JAVMA and AJVR stack up against some of the journals that authors list as their preferred places to submit new articles?
| Impact Factor | Quartile | Subject ranking | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AJVR | 1.3 | Q2 | 78/167 |
| Animals | 2.7 | Q1 | 16/167 |
| Frontiers in Veterinary Science | 2.6 | Q1 | 22/167 |
| JAVMA | 1.6 | Q2 | 62/167 |
| Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine | 2.1 | Q1 | 40/167 |
| PLOS One | 2.9 | Q1 | 31/134 |
| Veterinary Record | 1.8 | Q2 | 53/167 |
What makes some of these differences? Frontiers and PLOS One are megajournals: Frontiers published 3,621 articles in 2021 and 2022, and PLOS One an astonishing 31,627! In the same time frame, JAVMA published 366 and AJVR published 251. But let’s remember, our mission is quite different from theirs: ours is to serve our members in the best way we can, with content that is engaging, useful, and easy to digest, selected in JAVMA for its practicality in your practice and in AJVR for its value to our members in the veterinary colleges we serve. Further, we publish case reports as an avenue for residents to fulfill their specialty college credentials and for student-authors to experience publishing. Case reports are notoriously poorly cited, but they still count in our Impact Factor denominator.
While Impact Factor is important, it is a lagging indicator of a journal’s impact because, as previously stated, the 2023 Impact Factor includes only those articles published in 2021 and 2022 that were cited in 2023. A contemporary method of analyzing journal impact is through measuring “alternative metrics,” such as the attention the journals receive through social media, news media, blogs, and policy documents. Associate Editor Dr. Sarah Wright uses the online platform Altmetric to closely monitor JAVMA and AJVR’s media and policy footprints for real-time insight into their impact. Dr. Wright highlights our content on social media and in press releases to increase its reach in the veterinary community and beyond, with extraordinary results for your journals. JAVMA ranks third of 2,717 journals and AJVR ranks 12th compared to other veterinary journals’ media and policy mentions.
How do JAVMA and AJVR stack up against the other veterinary science journals for engagement? Here are their journal rankings for online attention scores:
| AJVR | 12 |
| Animals | 9 |
| Frontiers in Veterinary Science | 2 |
| JAVMA | 3 |
| Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine | 7 |
| PLOS One | 8 |
| Veterinary Record | 1 |
So, I’d say that the overall impact of your journals is terrific! Academically respected and at the top of the profession in reaching veterinarians like you, JAVMA and AJVR are just where they need to be.
Let me know what you think!
Respectfully,
Lisa A. Fortier DVM, PhD, DACVS
Editor-in-Chief, JAVMA and AJVR
Chief Publications Officer, AVMA
