The Evaluation of the Impact Factor of the Journal Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems

Abstract

The Science Citation Index (SCI®) was first presented in Science in 1955. The Science Citation Index was launched in 1964 and the Annual SCI Journal Citation Reports were officially launched in 1975. The SCI’s multidisciplinary database has two purposes: first, to identify what each scientist has published, and second, where and how often the

papers by that scientist are cited. Hence, the SCI has always been divided into two author- based parts: the Source Author Index and the Citation Index. The Web of Science®

(WoS)—the SCI’s electronic version—links these two functions: an author’s publication can be listed by chronology, by journal, or by citation frequency. The impact factor was devised by Eugene Garfield: in any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the number of citations, received in that year, of articles published in that journal during the two preceding years, divided by the total number of articles published in that journal during the two preceding years.

The Science Citation Index (SCI®) was first presented in Science in 1955. The Science Citation Index was launched in 1964 and the Annual SCI Journal Citation Reports were officially launched in 1975. The SCI’s multidisciplinary database has two purposes: first, to identify what each scientist has published, and second, where and how often the

papers by that scientist are cited. Hence, the SCI has always been divided into two author- based parts: the Source Author Index and the Citation Index. The Web of Science®

(WoS)—the SCI’s electronic version—links these two functions: an author’s publication can be listed by chronology, by journal, or by citation frequency. The impact factor was devised by Eugene Garfield: in any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the number of citations, received in that year, of articles published in that journal during the two preceding years, divided by the total number of articles published in that journal during the two preceding years.