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Impact factor correlations with Scimago Journal Rank, Source Normalized Impact per Paper, Eigenfactor Score, and the CiteScore in Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging journals

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Abstract

Introduction

In the last decade, several journal’s editors decided to publish alternative bibliometric indices parallel to the impact factor (IF): Scimago Journal Rank (SJR), Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), Eigenfactor Score (ES) and CiteScore™ (CiteScore); however, there is scarce information about the correlations among them. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the associations between this bibliometrics in the Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging category of the Web of Knowledge. We hypothesized the IF did not show the best correlation with other metrics.

Methods

Retrospective study. We used bibliometrics recorded from the 2017 publicly available versions of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), SJR (www.scimagojr.com), SNIP (www.journalindicators.com), and CiteScore (www.scopus.com); we also included the Total Cites. We measured the correlations using the Spearman correlation coefficients (RS) for all combinations of the bivariate pair, performed pairwise comparisons of the RS values, and calculated the coefficients of determination. We also tested the statistical significance of the difference between r coefficients between groups. All analyses were conducted with the JMP Pro software.

Results

The stronger bivariate correlations were represented by the ES↔Total Cites RS = 0.968, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.937; and the CiteScore↔SJR RS = 0.911, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.829. From 105 possible combinations of pairwise comparisons, 38 depicted a p value > 0.050 which would suggest interchangeability among bivariate correlations.

Conclusions

Our findings support our hypothesis that the IF does not show the best correlation between other metrics. Radiologists, interventional radiologist, or nuclear medicine doctors should have a clear understanding of the associations among the journal’s bibliometrics for their decision-making during the manuscript submission phase.

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Acknowledgements

Moises Villaseñor-Almaraz, M.D., was a research fellow at Directorate of Research, Hospital General de Mexico “Dr. Eduardo Liceaga”, during 2018. Juan Islas-Serrano, MS-IV, was scholarship recipient and visitor student of the program “Programa Interinstitucional para el Fortalecimiento de la Investigación y el Posgrado del Pacifico” in July 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Directorate of Research, Hospital General de Mexico “Dr. Eduardo Liceaga”, Dr. Balmis 148 Street, Col. Doctores, Del. Cuauhtemoc, 06726, Mexico City, Mexico

    Moises Villaseñor-Almaraz & Ernesto Roldan-Valadez

  2. Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico

    Juan Islas-Serrano

  3. Departamento de Metodologia de La Investigacion, Instituto Nacional de Pediatria, Mexico City, Mexico

    Chiharu Murata

  4. Department of Radiology, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Trubetskaya Str., 8, b. 2, 119992, Moscow, Russia

    Ernesto Roldan-Valadez

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  1. Moises Villaseñor-Almaraz
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Correspondence to Ernesto Roldan-Valadez.

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Villaseñor-Almaraz, M., Islas-Serrano, J., Murata, C. et al. Impact factor correlations with Scimago Journal Rank, Source Normalized Impact per Paper, Eigenfactor Score, and the CiteScore in Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging journals. Radiol med 124, 495–504 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-019-00996-z

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