Scholarly Communication for IUP Faculty and Graduate Students

Metrics in journal evaluation are quantitative measures used to assess the impact and quality of academic journals. Key metrics include:

1. Impact Factor: Measures the average number of citations received by articles published in a journal over a specific period.
2. h-index: Evaluates both productivity and citation impact of a journal based on the number of articles that have received significant citations.
3. SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): Reflects the number of citations received by a journal and the prestige of the journals where such citations come from.
4. CiteScore: Similar to the impact factor, and developed by Elsevier and incorporated into their Scopus database, it measures the average citations per document published in a journal.

These metrics help researchers determine where to publish their work and assess the influence of different journals within their fields.  

DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment)- an initiative aimed at improving the ways in which the quality of research outputs is evaluated. It emphasizes the need for better metrics beyond traditional ones like journal impact factors, advocating for more comprehensive assessments that consider a variety of contributions, such as datasets, software, and community engagement. DORA encourages institutions and funding agencies to adopt practices that promote responsible research evaluation and support a broader understanding of scholarly impact.