Frontiers journals lead in citations in their fields and rank in the top Impact Factor percentiles.

2018 Impact Factors coming soon!

Twenty-four Frontiers journals covering more than 230 academic specialties are indexed in the 2016 edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR-2016, Clarivate Analytics 2017, formerly Thomson Reuters) with an Impact Factor (Table 1) — and our analysis shows that the quality, impact and influence of these journals are steadily growing.

Notably, Frontiers in Immunology set a new high this year for Frontiers titles, with an Impact Factor of 6.429. This represents an increase from 5.695 last year.

Furthermore, Frontiers’ 2017 Impact Factors are consistently ranked among the best performing journals across all 20 academic categories in which they are listed — ranking as high as the 96th percentile (Figure 1). Across all 11,466 titles in the 2016 Journal Citation Reports, Frontiers journals rank, on average, at the 86th percentile.

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Frontiers journals in the top Impact Factor percentiles

Figure 1. Journal Impact Factor percentile over academic category, as indexed in the 2016-JCR. Frontiers journals (in red) cover 20 JCR categories, reaching as high as the 96th percentile of Impact Factors. The results are based on the 2016 Journal Citation Reports, released in 2017 by Clarivate Analytics.

What is the Impact Factor?

The Impact Factor is measured each year and reported in the JCR by Clarivate Analytics (formerly known as Thomson Reuters), along with citations and other metrics of journal impact.

The IF of a journal is the average number of citations received last year to articles published in the previous two years – and is universally regarded as a metric of journal quality. The total number of citations captures how much research is built on the papers published in a journal and is therefore a measure of influence of a journal on a field.

As such, the 2016-JCR analysis is based on citations in 2016 to articles published in 2014 and 2015. A total of 11,466 journals are indexed in the 2016-JCR, of which 1,058 are open-access journals (OA).

Frontiers journals are most cited in their fields

Frontiers journals also rank among the most influential in their fields in terms of total number of citations (Figure 2).

In an analysis of all journals (subscription and open-access journals listed in the 2016-JCR), Frontiers journals rank as most-cited in 4 categories, namely Neurosciences, Psychology, Multidisciplinary Psychology, and Plant Sciences. Frontiers journals also rank 2nd most-cited in the category of Physiology, 3rd most-cited in Microbiology and 5th most-cited in Immunology.

Compared to just open-access journals, Frontiers journals are the most cited in 6 categories (Neurosciences, Psychology, Multidisciplinary Psychology, Plant Sciences, Pharmacology & Pharmacy, and Immunology) and 2nd most-cited in 3 categories (Clinical Neurology, Endocrinology and Microbiology, see Figure 3).

Most cited journals in the 2016-JCR

Figure 2. Total number of citations in 2016 to articles published in 2014 and 2015, for the top 10 most cited journals in several JCR categories. Bar plot shows Frontiers journals (in red) rank 1st most cited in 4 categories, namely Neurosciences, Psychology, Multidisciplinary Psychology, and Plant Sciences. Frontiers journals also rank 2nd most cited of all journals in Physiology, 3rd most cited in Microbiology and 5th most cited in Immunology. The results are based on the 2016 Journal Citation Reports, released in 2017 by Clarivate Analytics.

Most cited open-access journals in the 2016-JCR

Figure 3. Total number of citations in 2016 to articles published in 2014 and 2015, for the top 10 most cited open-access journals in several JCR categories. Bar plot shows Frontiers journals (in red) rank 1st most cited in 6 categories, namely Neurosciences, Psychology, Multidisciplinary Psychology, Plant Sciences. Pharmacology & Pharmacy and Immunology, and 2nd most cited in Physiology, Microbiology, Clinical Neurology and Endocrinology. The results are based on the 2016 Journal Citation Reports, released in 2017 by Clarivate Analytic

Leading Journals in their fields

Below we summarize the exceptional results for Frontiers journals in the 2016-JCR.

Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series

The Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series is the most-cited in Neurosciences. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

With an Impact Factor of 3.209, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience is the world’s most-cited Psychology journal. It is also the 7th most-cited Neurosciences journal in the world. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Psychology

With an Impact Factor of 2.323, Frontiers in Psychology is the world’s most-cited Multidisciplinary Psychology journal. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Plant Sciences

With an Impact Factor of 4.298, Frontiers in Plant Science is the world’s most-cited Plant Sciences journal. Read the full analysis here. 

Frontiers in Physiology

With an Impact Factor of 4.134, Frontiers in Physiology is the 2nd most-cited Physiology journal in the world. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Microbiology 

With an Impact Factor of 4.076, Frontiers in Microbiology is the 3rd most-cited Microbiology journal in the world. Read the full analysis here. 

Frontiers in Immunology

With an Impact Factor of 6.429, Frontiers in Immunology is the 5th most-cited Immunology journal in the world. It is also the 1st most cited open-access journal in Immunology. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Pharmacology

With an Impact Factor of 4.400, Frontiers in Pharmacology is the world’s most-cited open-access Pharmacology & Pharmacy journal. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Endocrinology

Frontiers in Endocrinology received its first Impact Factor of 3.675 this year. Launched in 2010, Frontiers in Endocrinology is the 2nd most-cited open-access journal in Endocrinology & Metabolism. Read the full analysis here. 

Frontiers in Neurology

With an Impact Factor of 3.552, Frontiers in Neurology is the 2nd most-cited open-access journal in Clinical Neurology. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Pediatrics

Frontiers in Pediatrics received its first Impact Factor of 2.172 this year, making it the 2nd most-cited open-access journal in Pediatrics. Discover the full Journal Report for Frontiers in Pediatrics here.

Frontiers in Genetics

Frontiers in Genetics received its first Impact Factor of 3.789 this year, making it the 4th most-cited open-access journal in Genetics & Heredity. Discover the full Journal Report for Frontiers in Genetics here.

Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

With an Impact Factor of 4.300, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology is the 5th most-cited open-access journal in Microbiology. Read the full analysis here.

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Frontiers in Psychiatry received its first Impact Factor of 3.532 this year, making it the 5th most-cited open-access journal in Psychiatry. Discover the full Journal Report for Frontiers in Psychiatry here.

Frontiers in Chemistry

Launched in 2013, Frontiers in Chemistry received its first Impact Factor of 3.994 this year and it has taken a leading position among Multidisciplinary Chemistry journals. Discover the full Journal Report for Frontiers in Chemistry here.

Scientific excellence at scale

Frontiers is one of the largest open-access publishers in the world and is leading many of the technological innovations in Open Science. We engineered our 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. We enable their work with our unique review forum platform, and we introduced transparency and accountability by acknowledging reviewers and editors on the published articles.

With journals listed across 20 academic categories in the 2016-JCR, Frontiers journals rank in the top percentiles of Impact Factors and total citations. This confirms the rapidly growing success and influence of the Frontiers Open Science model, that consistently delivers scientific excellence at scale.

All of this is only possible with a stellar editorial board of 70’000 researchers and the diligent and committed work of our Associate and Review Editors, and the dedication of the Frontiers Journal Development Teams. A heartfelt “congratulations and thank you” to them all.

Table 1: Frontiers journals indexed in the 2016 Journal Citation Reports.