Measuring quality

How is the quality of a journal measured?

There are several ways the quality of a journal can be measured. They include using:

• Thomson Reuters (ISI) indexes (strict selection process, are peer reviewed and subject to scrutiny)
• ERA ranking - see next section
• journal rankings by category
• citation analysis (calculating impact factors)
• published evaluations of journals in peer reviewed journals
• known respected public sources
• sources from universities or professional associations
• the reputation of publishing houses
• acceptance or rejection rates – to publish in a quality journal the rejection rates are generally higher.

Journal impact factors are a form of measurement used to determine the relative standing of journals in particular fields. Journal impact factors are derived from an analysis of the data held on the Thomson Reuters citation indexes.