F.A.Q

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is a commercial analytics product published by Clarivate. It reports Clarivate’s official metrics (including the Journal Impact Factor) using citation data from the Web of Science database.
Journal CiteScope Reports is an independent indexing and analytics service. It provides journal insights using publicly verifiable data sources and our own transparent selection criteria and metric definitions.

Data source

• JCR: Based on Web of Science citation data.
• CiteScope Reports: Based on public/open and verifiable sources (as documented in our Methodology).

Coverage

• JCR: Includes journals indexed in Web of Science and meeting Clarivate’s evaluation standards.
• CiteScope Reports: Includes journals that meet our eligibility + integrity checks and have verifiable data availability.

Metrics:

• JCR: Publishes the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and other Clarivate-defined indicators based on a two-year period
• CiteScope Reports: Uses an annual, time-relevant citation indicator, calculated as: Impact Factor (Annual) = Citations received in a given year ÷ Number of items published in the same year.This approach is intended to provide a more time-relevant snapshot of current-year citation activity.
• In Journal CiteScope Reports, our time-relevant indicator is calculated as:
• Annual CiteScope Score (Year Y) = Citations received in Year Y to items published in Year Y ÷ Number of items published in Year Y
• This is different from JCR’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF), which is based on citations in the JCR year to items from the previous two years, divided by the number of citable items in those two years.

ournals are selected through a transparent, criteria-based screening process focused on basic publishing quality, discoverability, and data availability.
Minimum eligibility requirements

• A valid ISSN/eISSN and a publicly accessible journal website
• Clear information on aims & scope, editorial board, and the peer-review process
• Consistent article metadata (titles, authors, publication dates, references) and preferably DOIs
• Publicly stated publication ethics and policies (e.g., plagiarism, conflicts of interest)

Data availability & verification

• We index journals only when we can reliably collect and verify publication metadata and citation signals from public sources, so results can be checked and reproduced.

Quality & integrity checks

• We screen for red flags such as unclear peer-review claims, missing policies, inconsistent editorial information, or abnormal citation behavior (e.g., excessive self-citation or citation stacking). Journals may be excluded or flagged if concerns are identified.

Ongoing review

• Indexed journals are reviewed periodically. A journal may be updated, flagged, or removed if its policies change, metadata becomes unavailable, or integrity issues arise.

We use our metrics with full transparency so readers can understand, verify, and interpret them correctly.
1) Clear formulas (published openly)

• Annual Impact Factor (Y) = Citations received in year Y to items published in year Y ÷ Number of items published in year Y
• CiteScope Score (Y) = Average citations received in year Y by items published in year Y (same-year average)

2) Defined document typesWe clearly state what counts as an “item” (e.g., research articles, review articles) and what is excluded (e.g., editorials, corrections), so journals are compared fairly.
3) Verifiable data sourcesAll calculations rely on publicly verifiable metadata and citation signals described in our Methodology page, so the results can be checked independently.