First of all, the Journal Impact Factor is often misused as a proxy for the quality of a paper, which is conceptually wrong. Obsession with the impact factor is harmful for science and we hope that JMIR authors are part of the solution (not the problem) by arguing within their institutions that the use of the IF for assessment of individual work is a misuse of the IF - see DORA statement and What is impact factor misuse?. To evaluate the quality and impact of a specific paper, please look at the number of citations or altmetrics for your specific paper, rather than bragging about the impact factor of the journal it is published in. The Journal Impact Factor is just a historical average of how often all papers published 2-3 years ago were cited, and may have nothing to do with the specific impact of your work.
Still, we at JMIR are proud of the fact that all JMIR journals are consistently top-ranked (and authors getting published in JMIR journals can be equally proud of it), and the impact factor is only one of the metrics we are considering:
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Impact Factor (see also What is an Impact Factor?) The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) was ranked in Q1 in the Medical Informatics category by Clarivate, including the latest version released in June 2022 (Journal Impact Factor™ [JIF] 2021: 7.08). With respect to JMIR sister journals, JMIR mHealth and uHealth has a Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) of 4.95 (5-year JIF: 5.65) and was ranked Q1 in the subject category of Healthcare Sciences and Services, JMIR Serious Games has a Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) of 3.36, JMIR Medical Informatics has a Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) of 3.23, JMIR Mental Health has a Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) of 6.33, and JMIR Public Health and Surveillance received its Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) of 14.56. Other sister journals are on a similar trajectory. h-index (h5) / Google Scholar Google Scholar ranks journals by a 5-year h-index (h5), and also according to that metric, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) is ranked #1. We are pleased that JMIR mHealth and uHealth, JMIR Research Protocols and JMIR Medical Informatics also make the list of top 20 journals (i.e., less than the 5-years taken as basis for the h5 calculation). Author Feedback on journal rating sites JMIR is also ranked "leading" on scirev with a manuscript handling rating of 4.6 (out of 5). Leadership in best practices JMIR is one of the cofounders of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and is committed to industry-leading quality and ethical publication practices. Expert journal rankings According to a survey among 398 health informatics experts by Dohan et al (The Expert Survey-Based Global Ranking of Management- and Clinical-Centered Health Informatics and IT Journals, Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement. Paper 45. http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/ichita_transactions/45), JMIR and it's (then) 2 sister journals JMIR Medical Informatics and JMIR mHealth were all ranked in the top tier, namely in the A+ (top 5%) and A (top 20%) tiers. JMIR Publications is the only publisher with 3 journals in the top 9 journals rated A or A+. |
Sister journals
While the J Med Internet Res is consistently top-ranked by Impact Factor, Web of Science has not added many JMIR sister journals to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) as of yet - they are simply too new. Getting an impact factor usually takes at least 4-5 years, sometimes longer, because it is a backwards-oriented metric (looking at citations in the past year to the articles in the previous two years). 2021 Impact Factors released in June 2022 included the following:
- JMIR mHealth and uHealth received an Impact Factor of 4.95
- JMIR Serious Games received an Impact Factor of 3.36
- JMIR Medical Informatics received an Impact Factor of 3.23
- JMIR Mental Health received an Impact Factor of 6.33
- JMIR Public Health and Surveillance received an Impact Factor of 14.56
JMIR sister journals are separate journals, and although some authors have successfully argued for PhD committee or promotion and tenure purposes that the quality is the same as JMIR, hence it may be viewed as on-par with JMIR in terms of expected citations, we have no insight in how your organization views or (mis)uses the impact factor for evaluation.
There are other markers for quality such as the number of citations to your specific article, or altmetrics, both of which are available even if a journal is not in JCR/SCIE.
As an aside, if you publish a protocol or proposal or formative work in JMIR Res Protoc or any other journal, then the primary goal is to create an early scientific record of what you are planning to do, e.g. to facilitate new collaborations and claiming priority for methodological innovations or study designs, or to facilitate recruitment, or subsequent reporting of the results (see Why should I publish my protocol or grant proposal?). In this case, "Impact" is not necessarily the goal at the protocol stage and only comes with subsequent publications reporting the results of your research (see also What is the impact factor of JMIR Research Protocols?).
For some other JMIR sister journals we have published short reports on their (projected or unofficial) impact factor and ranking:
Disclaimer: Calculations above are our own and are not provided or endorsed by Clarivate Analytics, the owner of Web of Science and the Journal Citation Reports.
Please do not contact us to ask questions like "when will they get an official impact factor". We do not know the answer. Our journals do meet all the ESCI/SCIE/JCR criteria to be fully indexed. Please ask Clarivate (formerly: Thomson Reuters), which is the company in charge for releasing the Journal Citation Reports ( journal.selection@clarivate. com ).
Sadly, as publisher we have limited influence on which journals Clarivate decides to cover. We invite you to fill in their form, as perhaps this will encourage them to speed up their evaluation.
Related:
- New Clarivate Journal Impact Factors confirm JMIR journals as top journals
- JMIR Serious Games accepted for 2017 Impact Factor / SCI / JCR indexing by Clarivate Analytics
- How to become an author at JMIR
- What is an Impact Factor?
- Why do authors love publishing in JMIR journals?
- Why is JMIR Publications a "leading publisher"?
- Which journals is JMIR Publications currently publishing?
- What is the Impact Factor of JMIR Research Protocols?
- What is Impact Factor misuse?
| Journal | A. Articles published 2014-2015 | B. Citations in 2016 citing papers | B/A projected journal impact factor |
| i-JMR | 37 | 84 | 2.27 |