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Updated: May 26, 2026

Comparing Bibliometric Analysis Using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Databases
Published on: October 24, 2019
Diversity, value and limitations of the journal impact factor and alternative metrics
Lutz Bornmann1, Werner Marx, Armen Yuri Gasparyan
1Max Planck Society, Administrative Headquarters, Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
The highly popular journal impact factor (JIF) is an average measure of citations within 1 year after the publication of a journal as a whole within the two preceding years. It is widely used as a proxy of a journal's quality and scientific prestige. This article discusses misuses of JIF to assess impact of separate journal articles and the effect of several manuscript versions on JIF. It also presents some newer alternative journal metrics such as SCImago Journal Rank and the h-index and analyses examples of their application in several subject categories.
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