The ISI Web of Knowledge recently published the 2006 Journal Citation Reports. Here is my analysis of the current status and trends for the impact factor in computer science journals.
Let me start with an overview of the method I followed. I performed my analysis on the 365 journals appearing under the computer science subject categories: artificial intelligence; cybernetics; hardware & architecture; information systems; interdisciplinary applications; software engineering; theory & methods. Note that journals may appear in many categories. In particular, there are many overlaps between the above categories and "electrical and electronic engineering" and "operations research and management science".
Don't take this report too seriously. The impact factor is notoriously prone to misuse; let's not make the situation worse. Also note that in computer science there are tens of prestigious conferences whose impact factor is higher than that of most journals.
Rank | Name | ISSN | IF |
---|---|---|---|
1 | INT J COMPUT VISION | 0920-5691 | 6.085 |
2 | ACM T INFORM SYST | 1046-8188 | 5.059 |
3 | BIOINFORMATICS | 1367-4803 | 4.894 |
4 | MIS QUART | 0276-7783 | 4.731 |
5 | IEEE T PATTERN ANAL | 0162-8828 | 4.306 |
6 | ACM COMPUT SURV | 0360-0300 | 4.130 |
7 | ACM T GRAPHIC | 0730-0301 | 4.081 |
8 | J AM MED INFORM ASSN | 1067-5027 | 3.979 |
9 | IEEE T EVOLUT COMPUT | 1089-778X | 3.770 |
10 | IEEE T MED IMAGING | 0278-0062 | 3.757 |
Note here the high impact factor journals touching on life-sciences. This is more an indication of impact factor variations between various fields than an inherent quality property of these journals that distinguishes then from other computer science publications.
ADAPT BEHAV
APPL SOFT COMPUT
FORM ASP COMPUT
IEEE ACM T COMPUT BI
IEEE SECUR PRIV
IEEE T IND INFORM
INT J DISTRIB SENS N
INT J FOUND COMPUT S
INT J INF TECH DECIS
INT J INNOV COMPUT I
INT J QUANTUM INF
J COMPUT ANAL APPL
J COMPUT INF SCI ENG
J DATABASE MANAGE
J HYDROINFORM
J MULT-VALUED LOG S
KNOWL INF SYST
MATH STRUCT COMP SCI
REQUIR ENG
Notable here is the addition of IEEE Security & Privacy. Together with the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing and the Computers and Security (whose impact factor grew from an abysmal 0.085 in 2002, to 0.743 in 2005, and 1.075 in 2006) this marks an increased focus on security.
IND MANAGE DATA SYST
J VISUAL COMP ANIMAT
LECT NOTES ARTIF INT
LECT NOTES COMPUT SC
LECT NOTES CONTR INF
P ASIST ANNU MEET
Notable here is the removal of Springer's Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series and its cohorts. The LNCS series publishes mostly conference proceedings. Although its impact factor in 2005 was a respectable 0.4, I can assume that ISI dropped the series from the JCR, because LNCS doesn't have a consistent review policy or a permanent editorial board that vets each paper. I've seen people variously listing in their CV their LNCS papers as book chapters, journal articles, or conference papers. I feel that the right thing to do is to list them as conference papers, and this JCR change strengthens my view.
Name | ISSN | Δ IF |
---|---|---|
INT J COMPUT VISION | 0920-5691 | 2.428 |
MATCH-COMMUN MATH CO | 0340-6253 | 1.172 |
ADV ENG INFORM | 1474-0346 | 1.076 |
COMPUT INTELL | 0824-7935 | 0.883 |
INFORM SYST | 0306-4379 | 0.86 |
J ACM | 0004-5411 | 0.72 |
METHOD INFORM MED | 0026-1270 | 0.714 |
CHEMOMETR INTELL LAB | 0169-7439 | 0.68 |
ENVIRON MODELL SOFTW | 1364-8152 | 0.641 |
COMPUT MUSIC J | 0148-9267 | 0.639 |
Name | ISSN | Δ IF |
---|---|---|
ACM COMPUT SURV | 0360-0300 | -3.27 |
HUM-COMPUT INTERACT | 0737-0024 | -2.291 |
J MACH LEARN RES | 1532-4435 | -1.772 |
QUANTUM INFORM COMPU | 1533-7146 | -1.479 |
ACM T SOFTW ENG METH | 1049-331X | -1.364 |
ANNU REV INFORM SCI | 0066-4200 | -1.267 |
KNOWL ENG REV | 0269-8889 | -1.249 |
J LOGIC ALGEBR PROGR | 1567-8326 | -1.145 |
BIOINFORMATICS | 1367-4803 | -1.125 |
NETWORK-COMP NEURAL | 0954-898X | -1.055 |
Last modified: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 3:31 pm
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