This release is available in Chinese.
Amsterdam, 29 June 2009 – Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the highlights of its journal impact factor performance in 2008. Elsevier overall saw 75% of its journal impact factors (IF) increase from 2007 to 2008. According to the 2008 Journal Citation Report® published by ThomsonReuters, Elsevier journals took the #1 position in 51 categories (of 229 in total) across all of the sciences and social sciences.
In addition, 30 Elsevier journals got their first IF this year. Some of these journals received very impressive scores including two Cell Press journals: Cell Stem Cell (http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/home) (16.826) entered the Cell Biology category ranked 6th (of 157 journals), while Cell Host & Microbe (http://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/home) (7.436) entered the Microbiology category ranked10th (of 91 journals). Another impressive result in its first year is Materials Today (http://www.materialstoday.com/) (12.929), which is ranked 4th in the Materials Science, Multidisciplinary category (of 191 journals).
This year there were 182 Elsevier journals that increased their IF by more than 50% over their 2007 scores. All three The Lancet speciality journals improved their IF this year. The Lancet Infectious Diseases (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current) increased to 13.165, placing it at the #1 position in the Infectious Diseases category. The Lancet Oncology (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/issue/current) rose to 13.283, an increase of over 1 full IF point from the 2007 IF. Finally, The Lancet Neurology (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/issue/current) increased by 40% to 14.270, thereby retaining the #1 position in the Clinical Neurology category for the 5th year running.
Other Elsevier journals continue their long-running trend of increased IFs, in particular Biomaterials (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biomaterials) (increasing yearly since 2003) and The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jaci) which has shown consistent growth over the past five years.
Glen Campbell, Senior Vice President of U.S. Health Sciences Journals said, "Each annual announcement of impact factors confirms the depth and excellence of our health sciences journal publishing program. The superior performance of so many of our journals this year is a sign of the strong partnerships we have with our journal editors and our societies. This year's impact factor growth is one indication of the hard work and focus on quality of these collaborations."
"The fact that Elsevier's overall results are amongst the best in the industry is a true indication of the impact of the increased focus on quality we have placed on our journals in the past three years. The increased impact factors, across the board, are evidence that the research we publish is of the highest quality," remarked Martin Tanke, Managing Director of Science and Technology Journals. "We are grateful for our strong network of editors we partner with, who work with us each day to build our journals to some of the best in their fields."
The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The impact factor helps to evaluate a journal's relative importance, especially when compared with others in the same field.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.
Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).