Product Overview: CiteScore
Introduction
CiteScore is a robust and comprehensive metric developed by Elsevier to measure the impact of scholarly journals and other serial titles. It is part of the Scopus database, the world’s broadest abstract and citation database, and serves as a transparent and current alternative to traditional impact factors.
What CiteScore Does
CiteScore calculates the average number of citations per article over a specified period, providing insights into the citation impact of journals and other serial titles. This metric is designed to help researchers, publishers, librarians, and funding bodies make informed decisions about journal performance, publication strategies, and resource allocation.
Key Features and Functionality
Calculation Methodology
CiteScore is calculated based on the number of citations received by a journal in a given year for documents published in the journal over the past four years, including the current year. This approach includes all peer-reviewed publication types such as articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers, ensuring a comprehensive and robust assessment.
Comprehensive Coverage
CiteScore covers over 29,777 active titles, including more than 6,943 open access titles, and spans 334 subject categories. This extensive coverage allows for a more complete dataset for evaluating journal impact across various fields.
Monthly Updates
The CiteScore Tracker is updated monthly, providing a current and dynamic view of a journal’s performance. This eliminates the need to wait for annual updates, enabling users to monitor the impact of journals in real-time.
Transparency and Accessibility
CiteScore values and the underlying data are freely available for anyone to access, regardless of whether they have a Scopus subscription. This transparency allows users to verify and calculate CiteScore values themselves, promoting trust and reliability in the metric.
Fair and Robust Assessment
CiteScore includes citations cumulatively over a four-year window, which provides a more stable and reliable assessment compared to metrics with shorter citation windows. This approach prevents gaming and ensures a level playing field for all journals.
Early Impact Indication
CiteScore can be calculated for journals with just a single year of publication, giving new journals, including open access and China-focused journals, an early indication of their citation impact. This feature is particularly beneficial for new and emerging journals.
Multi-Dimensional Use Cases
CiteScore caters to a wide range of users:
- Researchers: Determine which journals to publish in, create reading lists, and showcase research outputs.
- Librarians: Support portfolio management, make informed decisions on journal subscriptions, and train students.
- Research Offices: Analyze publication strategies and encourage researchers to publish in aligned journals.
- Funding Bodies: Use CiteScore as part of prominence scores to support and stimulate good research.
How to Access CiteScore
Users can access CiteScore metrics through the Scopus database by following these steps:
- Go to the Scopus Sources page.
- Search for the journal title by subject area, title, publisher, or ISSN.
- Open the journal’s Source details page to view the CiteScore, along with other metrics like SJR and SNIP.
- Use the CiteScore Tracker to see the monthly updates on the journal’s performance.