5-Year Journal Impact Factor

Definition

The average number of times articles from the journal published in the past 5 years have been cited in the JCR year.

When to Use It

  • Broad View - The 5-Year Journal Impact Factor provides a broader view onto the citation data, but at the expense of granularity (which is reduced).

Limitations and Cautions

The typical lag after publication of a paper until peak citation is variable (across papers, across time, across journals, and across subject areas). When the lag is greater than two years (which it often is), a publication’s 5-Year Journal Impact Factor will tend to be higher than its Journal Impact Factor. Journal Impact Factor and 5-Year Journal Impact Factor will typically be identical for the first two years that a publication is covered in the JCR.

How It's Calculated

The number of citations in the JCR year ÷ total number of articles published in the 5 previous years = 5-year Journal Impact Factor

The 5-Year Journal Impact Factor measurement is the same as the Journal Impact Factor, but with three more years added to both the numerator and the denominator. Instead of a two-year window, it is a five-year window.

The calculation is factored in the same manner as the Journal Impact Factor, but considers a five-year window of citation data.