Kovacic N. "Structure of the 2003 impact factor for Croatian Medical Journal" CROATIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL 45 (6). DEC 2004. p.671-673

[Eugene Garfield]

FULL TEXT AVAILABLE AT : http://www.cmj.hr/2004/4506/02_KOVACIC.pdf

E-Mail : N. Kovacic : natasa at mef.hr

TITLE:          Structure of the 2003 impact factor for Croatian Medical
                Journal (Editorial Material, English)
AUTHOR:         Kovacic, N

SOURCE:         CROATIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL 45 (6). DEC 2004. p.671-673
                MEDICINSKA NAKLADA, ZAGREB

ABSTRACT:       According to the Journal Citation Report from the
Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the last year's (2003) impact
factor (IF) of the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) was 0.943. To determine
the factors that contributed to this significant increase in the IF, we
analyzed the structure of citations to CMJ in the ISI's publications,
Science Citation Index (SCI), and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI).
Thematic issues generally acquired more citations than regular issues.
Furthermore, citation number varied for different article types. The
citations to the original scientific articles corresponded to the average
number of citations for the current IF value, whereas reviews and
especially case reports were cited less frequently, and negatively
contributed to the IF of the journal. Only half of all articles published
in two previous years were cited in 2003. The majority of these articles
were cited once or twice, whereas only 4 5 articles received more than
three citations. journal self-citations are still an important
contributor to the CMJ's IF (39.6%). Their proportion may decrease in
time, by further improving the visibility of the journal, and thus
acquiring greater number of independent citations. In future, we can
expect year-to-year variations in the journals IF. This trend may be
positive on a long-term basis, but expectation of a value significantly
higher than 1 is unrealistic. CMJ is small general medical journal whose
quality-oriented editorial policy may in the long-term result in the
increase in the IF.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: N Kovacic, Univ Zagreb, Sch Med, Dept Anat, Zagreb 41001,
                Croatia


Publisher: MEDICINSKA NAKLADA, VLASKA 69, HR-10000 ZAGREB, CROATIA
Subject Category: MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
IDS Number: 881WT
ISSN: 0353-9504

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