How far has The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine advanced in terms of journal metrics?

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION

In 2011, to celebrate The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine (KJIM)'s 25th anniversary, journal metrics, such as the impact factor, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), and Hirsch index (H-index), were obtained from the Korean Medical Citation Index (KoMCI), Web of Science, and Scopus [1]. Two years have now passed since that previous analysis. I have determined how far the Journal has advanced from the point of view of these journal metrics. The results may provide a good incentive to editorial board members and all members of the Korean Association of Internal Medicine.

SOURCES OF JOURNAL METRICS

The KoMCI [2], KoreaMed Synapse [3], Web of Science [4], JCR Web [5], and SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SCImagoJR) [6] were searched and analyzed for journal metrics. Calculation of the impact factor from the Web of Science was as described previously; however, the number of self-citations, although negligible, was included. Self-citations were obtained from KoMCI. Non-countable papers, such as editorials or errata, were excluded during calculations. Cites per documents (2 years) corresponding impact factor and SJR were obtained from SCImagoJR. Total citations from the Web of Science were calculated manually. The H-index, through CrossRef DOI, was retrieved from KoreaMed Synapse. The H-index from Web of Science was calculated manually and the H-index from Scopus was determined from SCImagoJR. Impact factors, cites per documents (2 years), and the SJR of the Yonsei Medical Journal (YMJ) and of the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) were compared with those of KJIM. The definition of each journal metric was explained in the previous paper [1]. The major source titles that cited KJIM papers published from 2008 to 2012 were listed. The number of citations according to publication type was calculated to assess whether editorial strategy on specific publication types was beneficial to journal metrics.

JOURNAL METRICS AND THE EFFECTS OF EDITORIAL STRATEGY

Impact factor

Fig. 1 shows the changes in impact factors of the three journals compared. Impact factors for the year 2012 were 1.274 with a ranking of 70/151 (46.4%) in the category of general medicine for KJIM, 1.306 (69/151, 45.7%) for the YMJ, and 1.249 (71/151, 47.0%) for the JKMS.

Figure 1

JCR impact factors of The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine (KJIM), the Yonsei Medical Journal (YMJ), and the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) from 2008 to 2012. Obtained from Web of Science [Internet]. Philadelphia (VA): Thomson Reuters, c2013 [cited 2013 Sep 7]. Available from: http://webofknowledge.com/wos/ [4]; JCR Web [Internet]. Philadelphia (VA): Thomson Reuters, c2013 [cited 2013 Sep 7]. Available from: http://webofknowledge.com/jcr/ [5].

Cites per documents (2 years)

Fig. 2 shows the changes in cites per documents (2 years) of the three journals. Cites per documents (2 years) for the year 2012 were 1.619 with a ranking of 267/1,588 (16.8%) in the category of medicine (miscellaneous) for KJIM, 1,581 (273/1,588, 17.2%) for the YMJ, and 1.530 (284/1,588, 17.9%) for the JKMS.

Figure 2

Cites per documents (2 years) of The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine (KJIM), the Yonsei Medical Journal (YMJ), and the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) from 2008 to 2012. Obtained from SCImago Journal & Country rank [Internet]. Madrid (SP): Scimago Lab, c2007 [cited 2013 Sep 7]. Available from: http://www.scimagojr.com/ [6].

SJR

Fig. 3 shows the changes in SJRs of the three journals. The SJRs for the year 2012 were 0.464 with a ranking of 348/1,588 (21.9%) in the category of medicine (miscellaneous) for KJIM, 0.425 (375/1,588, 23.6%) for the YMJ, and 0.476 (339/1,588, 21.3%) for the JKMS.

Figure 3

SCImago Journal Ranks of The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine (KJIM), the Yonsei Medical Journal (YMJ), and the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) from 2008 to 2012. Obtained from SCImago Journal & Country rank [Internet]. Madrid (SP): Scimago Lab, c2007 [cited 2013 Sep 7]. Available from: http://www.scimagojr.com/ [6].

Total citations in the Web of Science

Changes in total citations for KJIM in the Web of Science are presented in Fig. 4. The total number of citations in 2012 was 315.

Figure 4

Total citations of The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine in Web of Science from 2008 to 2012. Obtained from Web of Science [Internet]. Philadelphia (VA): Thomson Reuters, c2013 [cited 2013 Sep 7]. Available from: http://webofknowledge.com/wos/ [4].

EFFICACY OF JOURNAL PROMOTION STRATEGIES

From these results, the following questions can be addressed. First, how much have the impact factor, cites per documents (2 years), SJR, and total citations of KJIM increased? Second, how much has the H-index increased? Third, is KJIM competitive with general medical journals from Korea? Fourth, was the editorial strategy that welcomed good review articles, multicenter studies, randomized-controlled trials, and meta-analyses beneficial with regard to increasing the Journal's impact factor?

There were marked increases in the impact factor, cites per documents (2 years), SJR, and total citations during the 2-year period. KJIM was located in the upper 46.4% of JCR ranking in the category of general and internal medicine. It is comparable to other general medicine journals from Korea, such as the YMJ (45.7%) and the JKMS (47.0%) (Fig. 1). Cites per documents (2 years) (Fig. 2) and SJR (Fig. 3) have also increased over the past 2 years. Total citations in the Web of Science increased year by year (Fig. 4). The increase in the value of the H-index was remarkable from SCImagoJR, from 15 in 2010 to 19 in 2012.

A strategy to welcome good review articles, multicenter studies, randomized-controlled trials, cohort studies, and meta-analyses was recommended in a previous paper [1]. This strategy would appear to have been successful from the point of view of journal metrics for review articles and special publication type articles.

The change in major source titles that cited KJIM papers indicated that the content of KJIM had also changed. It can be deduced that there was an increase in papers on molecular biology because Molecular Biology Reports is now the top ranking source title that cited KJIM. This differed from the previous data from 2 years earlier; then, the JKMS was the top-ranking source title that cited KJIM [1].

Many medical editors in Korea have done their best to promote their journals by providing invaluable data that can be cited internationally [7-9]. They also make great efforts to catch up with the international standards of scientific journals, such as Open Researcher and Contributor ID, CrossMark, and FundRef [10]. They would like to analyze journal metrics to know the present positions of their journals in the world medical journal market [11]. These efforts by medical editors will be beneficial to establishing journal strategies for receiving manuscripts of specific publication types.

CONCLUSIONS

In this second analysis of journal metrics, 2 years after the first, it is evident that there has been a marked increase in citation frequency by journals from the Web of Science, Scopus, and the KoreaMed Synapse. The strategy to welcome high quality review articles and specific publication types has been successful. This achievement was possible because of the diligence, vision and hard work of the editor and editorial board members. Because the publisher of KJIM, the Korean Association of Internal Medicine, is the largest and most representative specialist board society in Korea, the budget for the publication has been sufficient and many excellent physician-scientists have submitted to the society journal. There would seem to be no obstacle for the journal to be promoted to a still higher ranking in the category of general and internal medicine in the near future.

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