Identifying Immediate Impact Disciplines and Journals by Combining Three Citation‐Based Indicators

Abstract

This study identifies immediate impact disciplines and journals by using a new indicator, which combines the journal impact factor (JIF), five‐year impact factor (5‐year IF), and immediacy index (II). Although the numbers of immediate impact journals in both the natural sciences (NS) and social sciences (SS) have increased, NS disciplines have a higher average level of immediate impact than SS disciplines. Among 12,272 NS and SS journals indexed by the 2020 version of Journal Citation Reports, most (62.7%) exhibited the highest value of journal impact in 5‐year IF and lowest value in II, followed by journals with a JIF value higher than that of 5‐year IF (34.3%). Although only 113 journals (0.9%), including SS journals, had the highest value in II and the lowest value in 5‐year IF, the finding rejects the stereotype regarding the nonimmediate impact of SS journals.