Impact Factor, Immediacy Index and Eigenfactor

In considering the prestige of a journal, two common factors are considered:

1. Impact factor
   
2. Immediacy Index.

In addition, in the sciences, the Eigenfactor may also play a part.

An increasing number of alternative metrics (altmetrics) are available to address the shortcomings of the impact factor and other established metrics.  For a good overview, see the following articles:

• Phil Jones, Almetrics and Research Assessment: How Not to Let History Repeat Itself, 1 September 2015.
• J. Priem, D. Taraborelli, P. Groth, C. Neylon (2010), Altmetrics: A manifesto, 26 October 2010. http://altmetrics.org/manifesto

• Science Watch
  This open-web resource uses data from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science to periodically publish journal impact reports for disciplines.  To see a report, go to search box on website and type "journals ranked" to see a list of prepared reports.
  • Example: Journals Ranked by Impact: Communication
     
• Google Scholar Metrics
  New in April 2012, Google has released a new journal ranking tool. Rankings display include the h5-index and the h5-median for each included publication.  To learn more about Google Scholar Metrics and its use of h5-index, go to its explanatory page. To search in Google Scholar Metrics, click here and then type in the journal name on top.
   
• Scimago Journal Rank
  The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.). These indicators can be used to assess and analyze scientific domains.This platform takes its name from the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator, developed by SCImago from the widely known algorithm Google PageRank™. This indicator shows the visibility of the journals contained in the Scopus® database from 1996.