Our impact

Your research is the real superpower. That’s why maximizing its reach and impact is so important to us. 

Great research doesn’t change the world alone. It takes a powerful partnership between researchers who push boundaries, and journals that amplify their work. Our 222 active journals are here to support the 3.7 million authors, editors, and reviewers in our community.

We have published a total of 695,000 articles, each one open and available for anyone in the world to read. And behind each published article is an author, reviewer, and editor who chose to uphold the highest of quality standards.

Articles published with Frontiers have been viewed and downloaded 5.3 billion times and cited 16 million times, demonstrating the power of research that is open for all.

Frontiers is now the world's 5th most cited publisher, with an average of 4.6 citations for each article.

Professor Andrew Lee, Houston Methodist Hospital

Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Ophthalmology

“Frontiers’ open access model lets cutting-edge researchers, especially newer voices, reach a much wider audience. That visibility is incredibly important, both for their careers and for accelerating progress in the field.”

Following the 2026 release of the Web of Science Group's Journal Citation Report (JCR 2025) and Scopus' CiteScore:

• 146 of the journals published by Frontiers have a Journal Impact Factor

• 160 journals have a CiteScore.

This year, 26 Frontiers journals received a Journal Impact Factor for the first time and 27 received their first CiteScore. Of those journals that already had a Journal Impact Factor, 92% saw an increase this year.

See more metrics in the table below, or click each journal title to explore further.

The Journal Impact Factor is the average number of citations received in the last year to articles published in the previous two years. It is measured each year by the Web of Science Group and reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). 2025 Journal Impact Factors (published in 2026) are based on citations in 2025 for articles published in 2023 and 2024.

The CiteScore journal impact metric measures the average citations received in a four-year time window to selected documents published in the same four years. 2025 CiteScores (released in 2026) are based on citations received to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers published between 2022 and 2025, divided by the total number of documents published in this same four-year window. CiteScore covers all journal titles in Elsevier's Scopus database and is released once a year.

Our journals are leading their fields

Many of our journals rank as the most influential and most cited in their fields, including neurosciences, immunology, microbiology, plant science, and psychology.

11 of our journals rank first in their Journal Citation Report category, according to their Journal Impact Factor citations.

15 of our journals rank first in their Scopus category, according to their CiteScore citations.

Evaluating research

To benchmark the reach, influence and quality of our journals, we measure and communicate a range of indicators of our journals’ impact, including Journal Impact Factors, CiteScores, overall citation rates, aggregate views and downloads, press pick-ups, and social media mentions.

We fully support the responsible use of Journal Impact Factors, other quantitative research metrics, and innovative ways for researcher evaluation, as proposed by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, to which we are a signatory), the Leiden Manifesto, the Metric Tide for Responsible Metrics and the European Commission's Expert Group on Altmetrics.

Articles published in Frontiers' journals achieve international visibility with more than 360,000 mentions in major news outlets worldwide including BBC, NewScientist, NBC News, The Times, and The Washington Post. They have been mentioned 3.7 million times in social media channels.

They've also achieved 19,000 mentions in policies and 66,000 in patents, demonstrating the real impact your research is having in the world.

Explore more

Browse our journals

Our community journals are led and edited by expert researchers and many are the most influential journals in their field. Covering more than 1,700 academic disciplines, we can help you find the right home for your research.

How journal metrics work

Our guide explains how understanding and using a range of journal metrics can help you make informed decisions about where to publish, and in turn increase the visibility of your research

Latest science news

We think your research deserves maximum attention. Articles published with us regularly achieve international visibility with mentions in major news outlets including BBC, Newsweek, and Time, and in social media channels.