The IF (Impact Factor) is a scientometric index that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal. Since different science disciplines have different citing methods, until recently there was not any index that compares between journals from different disciplines.

The Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) is a new way to measure the citation impact of a journal’s recent publications using a field-normalized calculation. Starting from the 2021 JCR release, it will be calculated for all journals in the Web of Science Core Collection™.

Citation counts serve as the most accurate and immediate way to determine the scientific value of journals, articles, and research publications. They reflect the acknowledgment of the scientific community and the professional value of these publications within a certain research field.
However, when measuring academic materials by the number of citations, we must also consider the different aspects that impact this number; for example, the year in which the article was published, the material type, and the science discipline.

The JCI solves this matter by allowing more complex comparisons, taking into consideration both the citation count and the specific characteristics of a certain scientific discipline. It provides a field-normalized measure of citation impact where a value of 1.0 means that, across the journal, published papers received a number of citations equal to the average citation count in that subject category.

Read more about the new JCI here