Impact factors of nursing journals: what nurses need to know

Impact factors (IFs) are scores based on the frequency with which articles in a journal have been cited in other journals during a 2-year or 5-year period. Impact factors vary across disciplines and even within fields because of differences in citing behaviors, types of publications, and other factors. Nurses need to understand IFs and the implications for them as authors, particularly in light of the small number of nursing journals with IFs. This article describes journal IFs, the current state of IFs for nursing journals, and considerations in selecting a journal for submission of an article.