Real world APA reference formatting (APA Edition 7 focus)

Formatting your article When formatting your references, please ensure you check the reference style followed by your chosen journal. Here are quick links to the Sage Harvard reference style, the Sage Vancouver reference style and the APA reference style. Explore Our Website and Blog for APA Style Resources

The APA Style website offers reference examples, instructional aids, comprehensive style and grammar guidelines, and more. Our blog features APA Style experts exploring the nuances of style guidelines and providing insights into using the seventh editions of the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide to APA Style. Check out the APA Style blog for our latest posts.

By Ajarn Charlie

professorcharlieusa [@] gmail.com 

This page is to assist authors with understanding the correct use of the new APA Edition 7 citation and reference formats. 

APA Edition 7 Reference Formats:

https://tinyurl.com/5n89n5ba

APA Edition 7 Style and Grammar Guide:

https://tinyurl.com/yckn372m

APA Edition 7 Style Academic Writer:

https://tinyurl.com/2mvbz4n2

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/first-person-pronouns

Use first-person pronouns in APA Style to describe your work as well as your personal reactions. If you are writing a paper by yourself, use the pronoun “I” to refer to yourself. If you are writing a paper with coauthors, use the pronoun “we” to refer yourself and your coauthors together.

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings

ACADEMIC JOURNALS:

Journal Sample 1 - Journal with 2 authors and a DOI.

Leekitchwatana, P., & Pimdee, P. (2017). Appropriate Thai high school student Internet behaviour: A hierarchical linear model analysis. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 12(10), 158 – 172. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v12i10.7366 

In the above example from iJET (SJRQ2/WOS), we note the page numbers for the journal. However, if you go the journal's web site, the page numbers are not given. Also, if you go to crossref.org to find it or the DOI, the last page number is missing there as well. Then how do you get the page numbers? The only solution is to download the PDF and go to the last page where you will find '172'. Difficult? Very. 

Crossref Format (Note: Crossref is a slow database.)

Journal Sample 2 - Journal with 2 authors and an article number.

Srinuan, C., & Srinuan, P. (2021). Determining spectrum caps and service efficiency: A case study of mobile operators in Thailand. Telecommunications Policy, Article 102225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102225

Crossref Format

In this example, we can see that the title of the paper is not capitalized, but the journal title is. The reason to use this format is I have found out over the years that most proofing editors prefer this format when the journal uses APA. If there is an exception to this (capitalized journal titles), the journal guidelines will let you know and references are normally not APA.

Also, please note there is no "Retrieved from" statement before the DOI. This statement was eliminated in APA Ed. 7. You will also note that in this article from Telecommunications Policy (SJRQ1), they do not use volumes, issues, or pages but instead use a article number. 

Journal Sample 3 - Journal with 3 authors, article number and a DOI.

Chuenban, P., Sornsaruht, P., & Pimdee, P. (2021). How brand attitude, brand quality, and brand value affect Thai canned tuna consumer brand loyalty. Heliyon, 7(2), e06301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06301

Crossref Format

Journal Sample 4 - Journal with 4 or more authors.

For a work with up to 20 authors, include all of the names in the reference. When the work has 21 or more authors, include only the first 19 names, an ellipsis, and the final name.

Wiskunde, B., Arslan, M., Fischer, P., Nowak, L., Van den Berg, O., Coetzee, L., Juárez, U., Riyaziyyat, E., Wang, C., Zhang, I., Li, P., Yang, R., Kumar, B., Xu, A., Martinez, R., McIntosh, V., Ibáñez, L. M., Mäkinen, G., Virtanen, E., . . . Kovács, A. (2019). Indie pop rocks mathematics: Twenty One Pilots, Nicolas Bourbaki, and the empty set. Journal of Improbable Mathematics, 27(1), 1935–1968. https://doi.org/10.0000/3mp7y-537

https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/more-than-20-authors

Journal Sample 5 - Journal with 2 authors and NO DOI.

Moreover, as a rule of thumb, as the journal's quartile ranking increases, the chances of them using a DOI (digital objective identifier) increases. However, there are exceptions, such as APSSR in the Philippines (currently SJRQ2) in which you must use the link to the PDF at the end of the reference. As these links can be excessively long and messy, I have always used tinyurl.com to make brief and consistently short links to the document. As such, a reference using this style is as follows:

Supawan, P., & Deebhijarn, S. (2020). Factors affecting business performance of Thai restaurants in the United Kingdom: A structural equation model. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 20(2), 22 – 28. https://tinyurl.com/d6rtwp6z

Once again, in the above example there is no "Retrieved from" which is different from APA Ed. 6, the paper title is using non-capitalized words, but the journal title is both capitalized and italicized. 

Crossref Format

This APSSR paper is not in Crossref even though the journal is presently ranked Q2 by SJR. Why? 

The reason for APSSR not being in the database is because the publisher (DLSU) does not assign DOIs to their papers. Reasons for this might be that journals must be qualified first and they must also pay a yearly fee which some journals do not want to pay. Also, the DOI update process is labor intensive, and many journals do not want to allocate the humans to do this. Finally, far too many journal staffs are just lazy and highly unprofessional. 

However, in my humble opinion, this is very short sighted and I told APSSR's previous editor this, as many journals today require DOIs in papers used as references. This could be one reason APSSR has dropped from a SJRQ1 to a SJRQ2 journal over the past 2 years, as many authors are very hesitant to use papers with no DOI as they fear the paper won't be indexed in the major indices such as Scopus and WOS.

Finally, review this APA link for journal articles which are missing volume or issue numbers and for articles which have been retracted:

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references#3

BOOKS

Book Sample 1 - Book with one author and no editor(s).

Loehlin, J. C. (1992). Latent variable models. Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

Fongsri, P. (2014). Construction and development of research tools. Dansutha Printing Co., Ltd. (in Thai).

Please note in this example using Loehlin that there is no publisher location. This is because in the transition from APA 6 to APA 7, publisher location requirements were dropped. 

Also note the space between the initials used in the author's name. This is a requirement by most APA journals. Other formats such as HARVARD and IEEE normally do not use spaces between initials. 

Book Sample 2 - Book with two authors and no editor(s).

Schumacker, R. E., & Lomax, R. G. (2010). A beginner's guide to structural equation modeling. Routledge.

Please note that the book's title is not capitalized. This is the style most preferred by APA journals.  Once again, the publisher location is omitted. Also note that an '&' is used between names, NOT an 'and'. Other styles which use an 'and' are IEEE and Harvard.

Book Sample 3 - Book with three authors and no editor.

Jöreskog, K. G., Olsson, U. H., & Fan, Y. W. (2016). Multivariate analysis with LISREL.

         Springer.

Book Sample 4 - Book with two authors and an edition number.

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Allyn and Bacon.

For comparison purposes, here is a screen capture from the APA blog for Edition 6. Please note that the publisher location (Washington, D.C.) is included. However, in APA Ed. 7 publisher locations have been omitted:

APA Edition 6:

Also, APA suggests that edition numbers be used as it tells the researcher that there are earlier editions and maybe even later ones as well. 

Book Sample 5 - Book with multiple editors and an edition number.

Cant, M. C., Strydom, J. W., Jooste, C. J., & du Plessis, P. J. (Eds.). (2006). Marketing Management (5th ed). Juta & Co. 

Tomadaki, E., & Scott, P.  (Eds.). (2006). Innovative approaches for learning and knowledge sharing,” First European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC - TEL).  https://doi.org/10.1007/11876663.

Please note the space between the initials used in each authors' names. This is a requirement by most APA journals. Other formats such as HARVARD and IEEE normally do not use spaces between initials. 

Book Sample 6 - Chapter in a book and a DOI. 

Giannakos, M. N., Krogstie. J., & Aalberg, T. (2016). Toward a learning ecosystem to support flipped classroom: A conceptual framework and early results. In State-of-the-Art and Future Directions of Smart Learning (pp. 105 – 114). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-868-7_12

Bekkers, V. Edelenbos, J., & Steijn, B. (2011). Linking innovation to the public sector:  Contexts, concepts, and challenges. In V. Bekkers, J. Edelenbos, & B. Steijn (Eds.), Innovation in the Public Sector. (pp. 3 – 32). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307520_1

Book Sample 7 - Chapter in a book with an editor/editors, page numbers and a DOI. 

Gary, P. R. (2007). Adjusting for nonresponse in surveys. In C. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (pp. 411-449), Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5666-6_8 

Ruppert-Stroescu, M. S.  (2018). Redirecting the fashion industry towards eco-effective practices. In C. Becker-Leifhold & M. Heuer (Eds.), Eco-friendly and fair. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351058353 

Hollander, A., & Mar, N. Y. (2009). Towards achieving TVET for All: The role of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. In R. Maclean, R. & D. Wilson (Eds.), International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1_3

Book Sample 8 - Misc. 

Taylor R., & Gebre, A. (2016).Teacher–student relationships and personalized learning: Implications of personal and contextual variables. In M. Murphy, S. Redding, & J. S. Twyman (Eds.),  Handbook on personalized learning for states, districts, and schools, (pp. 205 – 220). Temple University, Center on Innovations in Learning.  

NEWSPAPERS

Newspaper Sample 1 - Newspaper article with author.

Chuenniran, A. (2019, April 24). China stresses safety for tourists visiting Thailand. Bangkok Post. https://tinyurl.com/3d37avuy

Williams, N. B. (1985, May 7). Major investment: Water buffalo pull most of Thailand load. Los Angeles Times. https://tinyurl.com/yyku3uzu

Newspaper Sample 2 - Newspaper article with no author.

In world first, bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador. (2021, September 7). https://tinyurl.com/8k8nb9h4

Cite in text the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title or abbreviated title.: ("In world first," 2021).

THESIS AND DISSERTATIONS

Dissertation Sample 1

Stone, A. P. (2009). An Investigation of Isan textiles at the village level in North-Eastern Thailand with particular reference to design and manufacturing strategies. [Published doctoral dissertation, University of Canberra]. Australia. https://tinyurl.com/y2rvs8em

Dissertation Sample 2

   Tongchiw, T. (2013). The meta-evaluation of revolving funds evaluation in Thailand. [Doctoral dissertation, National Institute of Development Administration]. Thailand. https://tinyurl.com/5fz7fhcc. 

M  Master's Thesis Sample 1

Low, B. D. (2007). Do you know what you know?: Perspectives on traditional ecological knowledge. [Published Master’s thesis]. The University of Northern British Columbia. https://doi.org/10.24124/2011/bpgub511

CONFERENCES

https://tinyurl.com/2p8me6xz

Conference Sample 1

Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A., Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 116(47), 23499–23504. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910510116

Conference Sample 2 - Proceedings with editors.

 [   Laanpere, M., Poldoja H., & Normak. P. (2013). Open and social technologies for networked learning. In T. Ley, M. Ruohonen, M. Laanpere, & A. Tatnall (Eds.), OST: IFIP WG 3.4 International Conference on Open and Social Technologies for Networked Learning, Vol. 395 (pp. 91 - 100) . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37285-8

Frielick, S. (2004). Beyond constructivism: An ecological approach to e-learning. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer, & R. Phillips (Eds.), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 328 - 332).  https://tinyurl.com/yt7cbejv

1. Conference presentation

Evans, A. C., Jr., Garbarino, J., Bocanegra, E., Kinscherff, R. T., & Márquez-Greene, N. (2019, August 8–11). Gun violence: An event on the power of community [Conference presentation]. APA 2019 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States. https://convention.apa.org/2019-video

 Parenthetical citation: (Evans et al., 2019) Narrative citation: Evans et al. (2019)

• Provide the names of the presenters in the author element of the reference.
• Provide the full dates of the conference in the date element of the reference.
• Describe the presentation in square brackets after the title. The description is flexible (e.g., “[Conference session],” “[Paper presentation],” “[Poster session],” “[Keynote address]”).
• Provide the name of the conference or meeting and its location in the source element of the reference.
• If video of the conference presentation is available, include a link at the end of the reference.

2. Abstract of a conference presentation

Cacioppo, S. (2019, April 25–28). Evolutionary theory of social connections: Past, present, and future [Conference presentation abstract]. Ninety-ninth annual convention of the Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA, United States. https://westernpsych.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WPA-Program-2019-Final-2.pdf

GGovernment Reports.

https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/apa/governmentdocs#government_website

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication, Month Day). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. URL

Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. (2010, April 27). Your preschool child's speech and language development. link

(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year)

Example: (Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2010)

Note: When the government department, agency or committee that created the document is also the publisher, omit the publisher.

DOIs- 

https://tinyurl.com/y374yz9k

Do you know Crossref? Crossref is an organization “working to make content easy to find, link, cite, and assess” (Crossref, 2016). One of their services is to register digital object identifiers (DOIs), and we follow their guidelines for display of DOIs.

Effective March 2017, Crossref has updated their DOI display guidelines, in part to ensure security (with https). For more details, see https://www.crossref.org/display-guidelines/ and https://www.crossref.org/blog/new-crossref-doi-display-guidelines-are-on-the-way/

Their new recommended format looks like this:

https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014

And here’s how that looks in an APA Style reference:

Morey, C. C., Cong, Y., Zheng, Y., Price, M., & Morey, R. D. (2015). The color-sharing bonus: Roles of perceptual organization and attentive processes in visual working memory. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 3, 18–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014

Note the secure https and the simple url prefix doi.org.

Although we recommend moving to the new format, in APA Style manuscripts, we will be accepting the older formats (doi:10.1037/arc0000014 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014) or the new format (https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014).

We recommend that you pick one format to use consistently throughout a reference list.

We will begin using the new format in our examples on this blog from this point forward. But, to clarify, in your manuscripts or papers, all of the following are currently considered correct APA Style:

• https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014
• doi:10.1037/arc0000014

Reference

Crossref. (2016). Annual report 15–16. Retrieved from https://www.crossref.org/pdfs/annual-report-2015-16.pdf

Footnotes:

Messy references

1. What is a 'messy' reference link? See these examples from Thailand's KJSS. This is why you should use tinyurl.com:

Fresh references

2. Try to keep your references 'fresh' which has become an ever increasing important criteria for a paper's acceptance. What is 'fresh'? From numerous editorial and reviewer comments over the past years, I interpret this to mean references should be no older than 5 years on average. Some editors have been a little bit easier and said that 70% must be no older than 5 years. Also, make sure the references in your Discussion are newer than those in the Literature Review and the Discussion citations/references are not the same as those used in the Literature Review. It is quite common for reviewers to average your references' age and use this as a criteria for acceptance or revision (or rejection). You have been warned!

How many references?

3. My rule for the number of references in a paper is very simple as I have found that 8-10 references for every 1,000 words raises no red flags. As most papers are in the 5,000-6,000 word range, I would expect to see no less that 40 references when I get a paper for editing. Less than that, I know we will have some problems later. Also, reference strength for APA papers comes from DOI use, links to the original paper or report, and ages of no more than five years. Finally, as I have said already, using a short link generator such as tinyurl.com to make the links short and consistent shows you are a professional researcher. 

2023 September Additions

Citations to Corporate Author 

When the reference is to a work by a corporate author, use the full name of the organization as the author. Retired officers retain access to all the university’s educational and recreational facilities (Columbia University, 1987, p. 54). If the name is long and cumbersome and if the abbreviation is familiar or readily understandable, you may put the abbreviation within brackets in the first citation and abbreviate the name in subsequent citations. [First citation] Though the brain may be done growing in size, it does not finish developing and maturing until the mid- to late 20s (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2020). [Subsequent citation] Because the teen brain is still developing, teens may respond to stress differently than adults (NIMH, 2020). The above appears in the reference list without the abbreviation: National Institute of Mental Health. (2020) … 

Citations When no Author 

If no author is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use the shortest form that will allow you to recognize the work properly. Use double quotes around the title of an article, chapter, or web page and italicize the title of a book, brochure, or report. If the title of the work is italicized in the reference, also italicize it in the citation; if the title is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the citation. Use title case for these titles. For example, a citation to the article titled “A puppy may reduce stress and save your life,” could be shortened and entered as (“A puppy may reduce stress,” 2020). (Remember that this title would be alphabetized in the Reference List using “puppy.”) If you are citing the entire dictionary, not an entry in it, the citation would be entered as (Merriam-Webster’s, 2005).

Use of the singular “they”

When the gender of a person is unknown, the use of the singular “they” is accepted. Do not use expressions such as “s/he” or “his or her.” For example, “Each student submitted their art portfolio to the committee” is correct. If using the singular “they” as a generic third-person pronoun seems awkward, try rewording the sentence or using the plural, such as “All students submitted their art portfolios to the committee” or “The art portfolio of each student was submitted to the committee.” More information about this is at https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/singular-they and https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/singular-they 

Scopus Discontinued-PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/ Egyptology (JAE)

Journal Name: PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/ Egyptology

Short name: JAE

ubject Area and Category: Today JAE is a multi-disciplinary journal which for the past two years has taken anything from anywhere although the web site in 2021 still details how to prepare your paper’s discussion about mummies.

Country: Holland, Malaysia, Indonesia-hard to tell.

Review date: 2021.04.24 Updated: 2021.06.17 Updated: 2021.08.11 Updated: 2021.10.14 Updated: 2022.01.23

SJR Quartile: SJRQ3 - As of January 2022, this journal was still listed as 'active' in the Scopus sources list. 

ISSN: 1567-214X

Publisher:  Invoicing - See below comments.

Contact Email:

APC: The APC was $700. In 2020, it increased to $735. 

Editor(s): Both the editor and associate editor are listed as Thai scholars who had positions in US and Vietnam universities, with nine other Thais on the editorial board according to JAE’s website. The Associate Editor of The Journal of Archaeology of Egypt / Egyptology is stated to be Prof. Dr. Kittisak Jermsittiparsert, a Thai academic currently working in a Chinese university. Professor Kittisak Jermsittiparsert holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Kasetsart University, Thailand. He is currently a Full-Professor of Public Administration at MBA School, Henan University of Economics and Law, China and the Secretary General of the Political Science Association of Kasetsart University, Thailand. His areas of expertise are Political Science, Public and Private Management, International Political Economy, and Social Research. He is also listed as the Editor-in-Chief of the recently Scopus removed Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica as well. Before that, he was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (IJECSE-Turkey). This man’s areas of expertise are boundless, from Thailand to Turkey to Argentina to Egypt to Vietnam to China! Finally, given the fact that an additional nine Thais also hold editorial board positions, we would conclude that Thais have a lot of experience with mummies…

Beall Listed: No.

Scopus Discontinued List: I reviewed the January 2022 Scopus Source List and this journal was still listed as 'active'. 

Frequency: Ongoing.

Template: Yes

Style: Stated to be APA.

Copyright: Yes

Similarity threshold: Try to keep your Turnitin score below 20%.

Submission process: email

Journal Web Page Comments:

AJR comments:  Don’t let the name fool you, because this journal accepts a very broad range of papers, usually with 100s of papers in each issue. We guess we can now say the journal has transitioned itself into a ‘multidisciplinary’ journal. Moreover, according to their web site: “Submissions are accepted on all social sciences and humanities domain and related areas.” However, the web site author guidelines are still talking about how to present your paper about mummies.

However, invoices can be paid to accounts in either Malaysia, Indonesia, or through PayPal. Letters at one point were being signed by a Dutch academic whose email is now bounced back to the sender. JAE’s previous invoice information included an address in India and a different PayPal email. Are you confused yet? It is also interesting to note invoices beginning in 2020 came from the notorious Malaysian Intellectual Edge Consultancy SDN Bhd., which markets conferences under the brand International Conference on Sciences, Technology, and Social Sciences (ICSTSS). Later in 2021, payment links for $735 USD were being sent to authors to pay a paypal account under the name Muhammad Haseeb. This quickly changed again to another PayPal account under the name of:

Emails to students also state they want excellent English editing, as well as APA style use. Emails in 2020 also state that Turnitin scores must be 20% or less. Expensive for a Q3 journal but papers are published fast! Join the party while it lasts…

Sample papers:

It seems correctly spelling a country's name (LOAS) is not important for this journal:

SJRQ2-International Journal of Innovation Studies (IJIS)

International Journal of Innovation Studies 

IJIS

Country: China

This journal is published quarterly; March, June, September, and December.

Publisher: KeAi Publishing Communications Ltd.

Copyright © 2021 China Science Publishing & Media Ltd. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.

 ISSN: 20962487, 25892975

Reference style: Unique

APC: To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or on their behalf e.g. by their research funder or institution. The journal is currently free to the authors and readers.

Guide for authors:

https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/international-journal-of-innovation-studies/guide-for-authors/

Editor:

Jin Chen

Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Note: Performance is spelled incorrectly in the online version...

Factors Influencing Venture Capital Perforsmance in Emerging Technology: The Case of China

Author links open overlay panelShuaiWangaThitinantWareewanichbThitinanChankosonc

 

Highlights of the 2022 Journal Citation Reports

At the end of June, Clarivate released the 2022 Journal Citation Reports (JCR). JCR is an important annual publication in the scholarly communication industry and is eagerly awaited for the scientometric information it provides about academic journals—especially journal impact factors (JIFs). Since it is a publisher-neutral resource, these metrics are often heavily relied on when evaluating journals. Researchers, research organizations, and libraries use them to judge the quality of journals, and publishers use them to promote their journals to the academic community.

Here are some of the key features of the 2022 report:

• Journal coverage: JCR is based on journals listed in the Web of Science Core Collection. Until last year, JCR covered natural sciences and social sciences, but now, it also covers the top journals in the arts and humanities. The 2022 report includes 12,828 science journals, 6,691 social science journals, and 3,092 arts and humanities journals.1
• Citation coverage: The data in the report covered Web of Science citations from 2021, including 2.7 million citable items (original articles, reviews) and 145 million cited references indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.2
• JIF calculation: For 2021, the JIF for a journal was calculated as a ratio between the following:
  • Numerator: Total number of citations the journal received in 2021 for articles it published in 2019 and 2020
  • Denominator: Total number of citable items published by the journal in 2019 and 2020
• New entrants: Over 190 journals have received their first JIFs.3
• Other metrics: JCR provides metrics other than JIF, which can be used as supplementary or alternative ways to evaluate journals. Two of these are
  • Journal citation indicator: This metric was introduced last year to account for discipline-wise differences in publication and citation frequencies. It is essentially a discipline-normalized JIF that can offer a more effective way to compare journal quality across fields than the JIF does.
  • Immediacy index: This is the number of citations received by a journal in a specific year divided by the number of articles it published in that year. It can be a useful performance indicator for new journals that have been included in JCR but which have not yet received JIFs.
• Inclusion of early access content: Sometimes, journals make a version of record available early, before the article is finally published in an issue. A policy change this year was to include citations to the early access content as well. If an article had an early access date in one calendar year (say, 2019) and a final publication date in another (2020), the early access date was considered.4
• JIF suppression: If the citation pattern for a journal is observed to be aberrant, the JIF of the journal is suppressed for one year (i.e., the JIF of the journal is excluded although the journal title itself may still feature in the report). In the 2022 report, the JIFs of three journals were suppressed.1 To decide whether a JIF should be suppressed, Clarivate examines different types of citation distortion: journal self-citation (far too many articles published in a journal cite other articles published in the same journal) and citation stacking (articles in journal A cite those in journal B far too often, and vice versa).4 From 2023 onward, JCR will consider one more type of distortion to suppress a JIF: journal self-stacking (the majority of a journal’s citations within the JIF window are to its own articles).
• Effect of COVID-19: COVID-19 caused a massive global shift in research focus—a shift reflected in JIF trends as well. Last year’s report already showed an unusual increase in the number of journals whose JIF increased within a single year (2019 to 2020).2 This may have been driven by the amount of COVID-related work being published and cited in that period. This year too, the JIFs of some journals in fields related to medicine and public health are 10 times higher than they were before.2 All of the seven journals that crossed a JIF of 100 for the first time published a large number of COVID-related articles.5 COVID-19 is expected to continue influencing citation and JIF patterns in the near future.

References

1. Clarivate. Web of Science Journal Citation Reports 2022 Infographic. Web of Science Group https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/web-of-science-journal-citation-reports-2022-infographic/.
2. McVeigh, M. Journal Citation Reports 2022: A preview. Clarivate https://clarivate.com/blog/journal-citation-reports-2022-a-preview/ (2022).
3. Clarivate. First time Journal Citation Reports inclusion list 2022. Web of Science Group https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/first-time-journal-citation-reports-inclusion-list-2022/.
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