Impact factors refer to papers in journals.
Impact factor = the number of times the papers published in the first two years of the journal were cited in the third year/the total number of papers published in the journal in two years.
The advantages of impact factors in the evaluation of sci-tech periodicals can not be ignored. It is favored by literature retrieval institutions, science and technology information centers and periodical management departments, and is widely used in scientific research management, literature research, collection resource evaluation and sci-tech periodical evaluation. The impact factor is a quantitative and semi-qualitative index, which reflects the role of a journal in scientific development and literature exchange in recent years with the average citation rate of papers, and can objectively reflect the academic influence of the journal in recent years.
Generally speaking, the impact factors can better reflect the real and objective situation of journals being used, and can fairly evaluate various academic journals. Generally speaking, the higher the impact factor of a journal, the higher the citation rate of its published documents, which on the one hand shows the greater influence of the research results reported by these documents, and on the other hand reflects the higher academic level of the journal.
It is not only an index to evaluate the usefulness and exhibition of periodicals, but also an important index to evaluate the academic level of periodicals and even the quality of papers. Of course, the comparison of impact factors of academic journals is generally only applicable to internal disciplines, and it is impossible to simply compare the impact factors of journals in different disciplines.