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NRF Rating Preparation: Journal Impact

This guide provides information and tools for measuring research impact, focusing on the use of citation metrics in NRF rating preparation

Selecting a Quality Journal

Please refer to the Journal Quality Libguide for more information 

Journal Metrics

Citation analysis

Bibliometric citation analysis is used for evaluation of scientific journals. The frequency of citations related to the average article in the journal should reflect the popularity and the influence of the journal. Citation analysis assumes that research published in prestigious journals with high impact scores and research published by scientists who enjoy high impact ratings will be sited more frequently than other research. A further assumption is that the more a researcher or paper is cited, the higher the impact of the research will be on the subject discipline.

Citation analysis is facilitated by citation resources and refers to the examination of the frequency and pattern of citations or references in scholarly or peer-reviewed articles, or books.

Citation metrics

Journal citation metrics is a systematic way to measure journal quality by ranking, evaluating,categorising and comparing journals, using quantifiable, statistical information.

Citation resources can be described as any print, electronic or web-based resource which include citations or references and citation analysis tools for the purpose of determining citation trends. Examples of citation resources are Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and Harzing's Publish or Perish. The first two are databases that Unisa subscribes to and the latter is in the open access domain.