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Should we use the mean citations per paper to summarise a journal’s impact or to rank journals in the same field?

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Abstract

The mean citations per paper is used increasingly as a simple metric for indicating the impact of a journal or comparing journal rankings. While convenient, we suggest that it has limitations given the highly skewed distributions of citations per paper in a wide range of journals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150, Australia

    Michael C. Calver & J. Stuart Bradley

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  1. Michael C. Calver
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  2. J. Stuart Bradley
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Correspondence to Michael C. Calver.

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Calver, M.C., Bradley, J.S. Should we use the mean citations per paper to summarise a journal’s impact or to rank journals in the same field?. Scientometrics 81, 611–615 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2229-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2229-y

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