Determinants of journal impact factors in ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’

Lobo, Dileep N.; Neal, Keith R.

Abstract

Background and aim: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyse determinants of the 2023 impact factors (IFs) of journals within the field of ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’. Methods: The Clarivate™ Journal Citation Reports™ website (https://jcr.clarivate.com/jcr/home) was searched on 9 January 2025 for journals with a 2023 IF (published in June 2024) ≥ 6.0 in the field of ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’. Analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism software. Results: There were there were 84,040 citations in 2023 to 10,719 works published in 2021 and 2022 in the 12 journals with an IF ≥ 6.0. Median numbers of citations per output were lower than mean citations in all journals. This difference ranged from 0.55 to 3.97. Most outputs (47.5%–79.1 %) had 1–10 citations. The 1538 open access outputs were cited less frequently [mean (95 % CI) 6.98 (6.55–7.40)] than the 9181 subscription outputs [7.99 (7.81–8.16), P < 0.0001]. The 2063 reviews were cited more frequently [8.94 (8.45–9.43)] than the 8656 original articles [7.58 (7.42–7.74), P < 0.0001]. When the highest cited outputs from each journal were excluded, the fall in IFs ranged from 0 to 2.4. The was also the case when the two highest cited outputs were excluded (fall ranged from 0 to 2.7). Conclusion: This comprehensive analysis of journal IFs has shown that although review articles increase IFs of journals, open access outputs do not. IFs can be distorted by 1 or 2 highly cited outputs and may not reflect the impact of the majority of outputs.

Citation

Lobo, D. N., & Neal, K. R. (2025). Determinants of journal impact factors in ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’. Clinical Nutrition, 46, 72-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2025.01.021

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 17, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jan 21, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 22, 2026
• Journal: Clinical Nutrition
• Print ISSN: 0261-5614
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-1983
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Pages: 72-79
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2025.01.021
• Keywords: Bibliometrics, Clarivate™, Determinants, Journal Citation Reports™, Journal impact factor, Nutrition and Dietetics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/44421296
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261561425000226
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Determinants of journal impact factors in ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’; Journal Title: Clinical Nutrition; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2025.01.021; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.