Impact factor of major dermatology journals and the increasing influence of dermatology in the house of medicine.

Abstract

Journal impact factor (JIF) is a bibliometric proxy of relative journal importance. Mean dermatology JIF has nearly doubled since 1997. The reasons behind the increase have not been previously explored. To assess factors contributing to rising dermatology JIF. This bibliometric study utilized publicly-available citation and JIF data from the Thomson-Reuters InCites Journal Citation Reports "Dermatology and Venereology" category, from 1997-2017. From 1997-2017, aggregate dermatology JIF increased by 70%, associated with a 64% increase in JIF numerator (total journal citations) and a 3% decrease in JIF denominator (total journal articles and reviews). In the four highest-JIF journals (JAAD, JAMA Dermatology/Archives of Dermatology, JID, and BJD), there was an increase in citations coming from non-dermatology specialty journals, including oncology, rheumatology, and multidisciplinary sciences. Journal impact factor was positively correlated with five JIF alternatives. Immediacy Index, a reflection of how fast dermatology journals are cited, increased four-fold (P<0.001). Impact factor numerator/denominator data were not available before 1999. The nearly two-fold rise in dermatology JIF from 1997-2017 was associated with increased citations, an increasing proportion of which came from non-dermatology journals. This may reflect growing influence of dermatology research within both dermatology and other fields of medicine.