Coming soon: 2017 analysis based on the most recent Journal Citation Reports by Clarivate Analytics (formerly published by Thomson Reuters).

14.Jul.2016: For the second year in a row, Frontiers is the  #1 most cited and largest open-access publisher in the category of Neuroscience.

The Impact Factor (IF), defined as the total number of citations in a given year divided by the number of citable articles over the previous two-year period, is the most commonly accepted metric of journal quality (but not of an individual paper or researcher). It was formally established by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 1975. As the IF can be heavily skewed by a few highly-cited papers, total citations generated over the same two-year period provide a more accurate indication of the overall influence or impact of the articles published by a journal in a field. Thus, we present below the results achieved in 2015, for articles published in 2013 and 2014**.**  Frontiers is a pioneer in the use of article-level and author-level metrics and encourages every author to use these to track the development of his or her readership on a more granular level.

Analysis within the JCR category of Neuroscience

There are 256 journals listed within the category of Neurosciences in the 2015 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), provided by Thomson Reuters in 2016. Of those, there are 37 open-access journals indexed in the JCR category of Neuroscience, including the following 12 Frontiers journals:

• Frontier in Neurology *

• Frontiers in Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Neural Circuits

• Frontiers in Neuroanatomy

• Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

• Frontiers in Neurobotics

Frontiers is structured by academic fields (e.g. Neuroscience, Psychology, Plant Science, etc.) with specialty sections (e.g. Developmental Psychology). In the case of the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers, 12 specialty sections have become journals and the journal Frontiers in  Neuroscience hosts the remaining sections. Thus, the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers publishes 13 journals separate from  Frontiers in Neurology. Of the 13 journals in the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers,  11 have received Impact Factors, and are listed in the JCR Category of Neuroscience.

Below are the results of our comparative analysis on the article volume published, IF and the total number of citations achieved in 2015, for articles published over the two preceding years, 2013 and 2014. We present results for individual Frontiers journals listed in the JCR Category of Neuroscience as well as for the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers as a whole, where citations and volume for our 11 field journals with an Impact Factor are pooled. (Click here to see the volume and number of citations of other Frontiers journals).

* The journal Frontiers in Neurology is listed for the first time this year in the JCR, in the categories of Neurosciences and others. While it is analysed amongst journals in the JCR category for journal results and for publisher results, it is not included in the pooled results for the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers.

Total citations among all open-access journals in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 1. Total number of citations in 2015 for articles published in 2013 and 2014, ranked for all (37) open-access journals listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows (in orange) the Field of Frontiers in Neuroscience ranks #1 most cited, next to the top 25 most cited open-access  journals in the category, with (in red) the individual Frontiers journals in the Field of Neuroscience. Frontiers in Neurorobotics ranks #33 most cited (not shown). The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Total citations among all journals in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 2. Total number of citations in 2015 for articles published in 2013 and 2014, ranked for all (256) journals (open-access and subscription) listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows (in orange) the Field of Frontiers in Neuroscience ranks #1 most cited, next to the top 20 most cited journals in the category, where (in red) the journal of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ranks #5 most cited. The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Relationship between volume and Impact Factor for all open-access journals in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 3. Number of citable items published in 2015, plotted against the journal Impact Factor, analysed for all 37 open-access journals listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows all open-access journals in the category, with (in red) each of the 11 Frontiers journals in the field of Neuroscience. D__ot size is proportional to the total number of citations received during the citation-counting period. The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Relationship between volume and Impact Factor for all journals in the Field of Neuroscience

Figure 4. Number of citable items published in 2015, plotted against the journal Impact Factor, analysed for all 256 journals (open-access  and subscription) listed in the Field of  Neuroscience JCR category. In red, each of the 11 Frontiers journals in the field of Neuroscience. Dot size is proportional to the total number of citations received during the citation-counting period. The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Most cited open-access publishers in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 5. Total number of citations in 2015  for articles published in 2013 and 2014, analysed for all journals belonging to the 11 for open-access publishers listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows all the publishers listed, where (in red) Frontiers ranks #1 most cited. The analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016. 

Most cited publishers in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 6. Total number of citations in 2015 for articles published in 2013 and 2014,, analysed for all journals belonging to the 66 publishers (open-access and subscription) listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows the top 29 publishers listed, where Frontiers ranks #4 most cited. The analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Largest open-access publishers in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 7. Number of citable items published in 2015, analysed for all journals belonging to the 9 open-access publishers listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows all the publishers listed, where Frontiers ranks #1 largest volume of citable items.  The analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016. 

Largest publishers in the Category of Neuroscience

Figure 8. Number of citable items published in 2015, analysed for all journals belonging to the 66 publishers (open-access and subscription) listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. Plot shows the top 15 largest publishers listed, where Frontiers ranks #4 largest in terms of number of citable items.  The analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016. 

Summary

Amongst the 37 open-access journals listed in the JCR category of Neuroscience, Frontiers in the field of Neuroscience:

• Publishes 55% of all open-access articles

• Generated 64% of the total citations received by open-access neuroscience journals.

Amongst all of the 252 journals listed in the JCR category of Neurosciences, Frontiers in the field of Neuroscience:

• Is the 4rd largest publisher of Neuroscience articles.

• Generated the 4th highest number of citations when compared to all journals in the JCR category of Neurosciences

• Has an average Impact Factor of 3.55.

In summary, the field of Neuroscience in Frontiers, launched in 2008, has become the #1 most cited and #1 largest open-access publisher in the JCR category of Neuroscience and the 4th  most cited and 4th largest Neuroscience publisher overall.

The specialty journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, listed in the 2015 JCR categories of Neurosciences and Psychology, has become the #1 most cited journal in Psychology, the #1 most cited open-access journal in Neuroscience and the 5th  most cited of all journals listed in Neuroscience. It is also the 2nd  and the largest open-access journal in all of Psychology and Neuroscience, respectively.

Other Frontiers journals listed in the 2015 Journal Citation Reports follow a similar pattern – view the most recent analysis here.

Key to success

At Frontiers, we publish all articles that are scientifically correct. We engineered the Collaborative Peer Review with a review mandate focused on enhancing article quality by means of rigorous and constructive feedback from expert reviewers, quick and direct interactions between authors, reviewers and the editor enabled by our review forum platform, and we enhance transparency by acknowledging reviewers and editors on the published articles. This performance analysis indicates that the impact neutral Collaborative Peer Review conducted in Frontiers together with an outstanding editorial board has become a powerful model for publishing academic papers.

All of this is only possible with a stellar editorial board of researchers (see infographic).  Frontiers congratulates Field Chief Editor Idan Segev, and Assistant Field Chief Editors Larry Abbott, and Jon H Kaas for leading this field so successfully, the stellar board of Specialty Chief Editors (see below) for their work in building the community, the Associate Editors for safeguarding the integrity of the Frontiers peer-review, the outstanding Review Editors for their dedication and diligence in the peer-review process as well as the Frontiers Journal Management team for their support to the editors.

Frontiers in the Field of Neuroscience Fact sheet (as of June 2016):

The same analysis of volume, impact factor and number of citations of other Frontiers journals can be found here.

Similar analysis for the 2014 JCR can be found here.

* Frontiers in Neurology is not included the Field of Neuroscience in Frontiers.

Field Chief Editors (see full board):

Idan Segev, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel | Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Larry Abbott, Columbia University New York, USA | Assistant Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Jon H Kaas, Vanderbilt University Nashville, USA | Assistant Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Frontiers in Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Isabelle Peretz, Université de Montréal, Canada | Specialty Chief Editor, Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience

Robert J Zatorre, McGill University Montreal, Canada | Specialty Chief Editor, Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience

Joel C Bornstein, The University of Melbourne, Australia | Specialty Chief Editor, Autonomic Neuroscience

Vaughan G Macefield, Western Sydney University, Australia | Specialty Chief Editor, Autonomic Neuroscience

Russell A Poldrack, Stanford University, USA| Specialty Chief Editor, Brain Imaging Methods

Jean-Baptiste Poline, University of California Berkeley, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Brain Imaging Methods

Hauke R Heekeren, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany | Specialty Chief Editor, Decision Neuroscience

Paul E. M. Phillips, University of Washington Seattle, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Decision Neuroscience

Aaron Vinik, Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Diabetes

Laura Ballerini, SISSA-ISAS International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste and University of Trieste, Italy | Specialty Chief Editor, Neural Technology

Ioan Opris, Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston Salem, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Neural Technology

Mark P Burns, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA | Specialty Chief Editor,Neurodegeneration

Wendy Noble, King’s College London, United Kingdom | Specialty Chief Editor, Neurodegeneration

Einar M Sigurdsson, NYU, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Neurodegeneration

Hubert Vaudry, University of Rouen Mont-Saint-Aignan, France | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroendocrine Science

Suzanne L. Dickson, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweeden |Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

Walter H Kaye, UCSD, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

Pierre J Magistretti, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

Robert W Williams, University of Tennessee Health Science Center MemphiS, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenomics

Timothy K Horiuchi, The University of Maryland, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuromorphic Engineering

Giacomo Indiveri, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuromorphic Engineering

Nicholas M Barnes, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuropharmacology

Hiroaki Kitano, The Systems Biology Institute Tokyo, Japan | Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Aldana Maximino, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Cuernavaca, Mexico | Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Raina Robeva, Randolph-Macon College and Sweet Briar College, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Sidney A Simon, Duke University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Elizabeth B Torres, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA | Assistant Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Mary B Kennedy, Caltech, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience

Per Jesper Sjöström, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Canada |Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience

Ranulfo Romo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience

Maria V Sanchez-Vives, ICREA-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Gemma Casadesus, Kent State University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 

Rodrigo Orlando Kuljiš, University of Miami School of Medicine, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience , Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Nuno Sousa, ICVS, University of Minho Braga, Portugal | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Egidio D‘Angelo University of Pavia, Italy | Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Christian Hansel, University of Chicago, United States of America | Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Misha Tsodyks Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel | Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

Si Wu, Beijing Normal University, China | Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Hauke R Heekeren, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Srikantan S Nagarajan, University of California San Francisco, USA | Specialty Chief Editor**,** Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

 Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Robert J Harvey, UCL, United Kingdom | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Jochen C Meier, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany | Specialty Chief Editor**,** Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Peter H Seeburg, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Germany | Specialty Chief Editor**,** Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Frontiers in Neural Circuits_,_ Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Takao K. Hensch, Harvard University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neural Circuits

Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Javier DeFelipe, Cajal Institute, Spain | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy

Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Jan G Bjaalie, University of Oslo, Norway | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

Sean L Hill, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland and International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF),  Sweden | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

Frontiers in Neurorobotics, Specialty Chief Editors (see full board):

Alois C Knoll, Technische Universität München, Germany | Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neurorobotics

Florian Röhrbein, Technische Universität München, Germany | Assistant Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neurorobotics

A special thanks goes to:

Alex Thomspon, University College London, United Kingdom | Former Field Chief Editor

Angelique Bordey, Yale University School of Medicine, USA | Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenesis

Maria J Donoghue, Georgetown University, USA | Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenesis

Niels Birbaumer, University of Tuebingen, Germany | Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroprosthetics

Eilon Vaadia, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel | Former Specialty Chief Editor,Neuroprosthetics

Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland | Former Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

John J Foxe, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, USA | Former Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience