A Legacy of Innovation in Scholarly Publishing
In 1975, as the world witnessed the rise of Microsoft, the cinematic success of Jaws, and the invention of the digital camera, the academic world also saw the launch of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). This pioneering initiative, introduced by Eugene Garfield and Irving Scher, began with data from 2,630 journals and featured a revolutionary metric—the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Initially designed to support the Science Citation Index, the JIF quickly gained traction among librarians, researchers, and publishers as a key tool for evaluating scholarly journals.
Over five decades, the JCR evolved from a print publication to a sophisticated digital platform, now profiling over 22,000 journals with a rich mix of metrics and insights. Dr. Nandita Quaderi, Editor-in-Chief at Clarivate Web of Science, marked Journal Citation Reports’s 50th anniversary by unveiling the 2025 edition and reflecting on its journey and impact.
Adapting to Challenges in a Changing Research Landscape
As scholarly publishing expanded, so too did concerns over the misuse of metrics. The pressure to publish frequently and be cited has contributed to the rise of unethical practices, including the emergence of “papermills”—entities producing fraudulent content even in reputed journals. This growing challenge has blurred the distinction between “high impact” and “high quality” journals, with trustworthiness emerging as a more appropriate measure of quality.
In response, Clarivate introduced a series of reforms: in 2018, transparency was added to journal selection processes; in 2021, field-normalized metrics and broader journal inclusivity were launched; and by 2023, AI tools were deployed to evaluate journal integrity and extend the JIF to all quality-vetted journals. The latest update in 2024 unified subject rankings across science and social sciences, reaffirming the message that trust, not just citations, defines journal excellence.
Journal Citation Reports Reinforcing Research Integrity for the Future
In an era of evolving publication models, Clarivate is striving to balance innovation with responsibility. Traditional peer review remains the backbone of journal inclusion, but new formats—where peer-reviewed content is published regardless of reviewer concerns—have prompted a shift. A novel policy now allows partial indexing of such journals, but only fully validated articles qualify for inclusion. Journals with this status, however, are not eligible for impact metrics like the JIF.
Another critical update is the exclusion of citations to and from retracted articles in JIF calculations. While affecting only 1% of journals currently, this proactive step helps preserve metric integrity as retraction rates climb. As the Journal Citation Reports turns 50, its continued evolution signals a broader commitment: to support a scholarly ecosystem rooted in transparency, ethical rigor, and meaningful innovation, ensuring that metrics reflect both scholarly influence and trustworthiness.
