By Pascal Rocha da Silva, Frontiers analyst

The field of Frontiers in Neuroscience, established in 2008, has become the #1 most cited and #1 largest Open Access publisher of Neuroscience and the 3rd most cited and 4th largest Neuroscience publisher overall.

The impact factor (IF), defined as the total number of citations divided by the number of citable articles over a two-year period, is the gold standard of journal quality (not of an individual scientist). It was formally established by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 1975. As the IF can be heavily skewed by a few highly cited papers, total citations generated over the same two-year period provide a more accurate measure of the overall influence or impact of the articles published by a journal in a field.

Analysis within the JCR category of Neuroscience

There are 252 journals listed within the category of “Neurosciences” in the 2014 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), provided by Thomson Reuters in 2015. There are 36 Gold Open Access journals indexed in the 2014 JCR. Frontiers is structured by academic fields (e.g. Neuroscience, Psychology, Plant Science, etc.) with specialty sections (e.g. Developmental Psychology). In the case of the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13 of its specialty sections have become journals and the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience hosts the remaining sections. The field of Frontiers in Neuroscience therefore publishes 14 neuroscience journals, of which 10 have already received impact factors:

• Frontiers in Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

• Frontiers in Neural Circuits

• Frontiers in Neuroanatomy

• Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

Below are the results of our comparative analysis on the article volume published, impact factor (IF) and the total number of citations achieved in 2014 based on articles published over the two preceding years, 2012 and 2013. (Click here to see the volume and number of citations of other Frontiers journals).

Comparison of impact factors and volume among all Open Access journals (36) in the Neurosciences category

Figure 1. The 10 journals in the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience (red dots) compared to all other 26 Open Access journals (grey dots) listed in the Neurosciences JCR category. The journal analysis is based on the 2014 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Most cited Open Access journals in the Neurosciences category

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Figure 2. Top 25 most cited open access journals in the Neuroscience JCR category. Citations in 2014 were counted for articles published in 2012 and 2013. In blue the entire field of Frontiers in Neuroscience, in red the individual Frontiers journals, in grey other Open Access journals. The journal analysis is based on the 2014 Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Citations to the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience (10 journals) compared to all other Open Access journals combined (26 journals)

Figure 3. The 10 journals in the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience combined compared to the 26 other Open Access journals in the Neurosciences JCR category combined. Citations in 2014 were counted for articles published in 2012 and 2013. The journal analysis is based on the 2014 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Comparison of impact factors and volume among all journals (252) in the Neurosciences category

Figure 4. The 10 journals in the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience compared to the other 242 journals (subscription and Open Access) listed in the Neuroscience JCR category. The journal analysis is based on the 2014 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Most cited journals in the Neurosciences category

Figure 5. Total number of citations generated by the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience compared to top journals in the 2014 Neurosciences JCR category (open access and subscription). Citations in 2014 were counted for articles published in 2012 and 2013. In blue the entire field of Frontiers in Neuroscience, in red the individual Frontiers journals, in grey other journals. The journal analysis is based on the 2014 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Top 15 largest publishers in the Neurosciences category

Figure 6. Top 15 largest publishers in the Neurosciences category based on the 2014 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters, 2015.

Summary

Amongst the 36 Gold Open Access journals listed in the JCR category of Neuroscience, the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience:

• Publishes 58% of all Open Access articles.

• Has an average impact factor that is 22% higher than the average.

• Generated 52% of the total citations received by Open Access neuroscience journals.

Amongst all of the 252 journals listed in the JCR category of Neurosciences, the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience:

• Generated the 3rd highest number of citations when compared to all journals in the JCR category of Neurosciences.

• Is the 4th largest publisher of neuroscience articles overall (after Elsevier, Wiley and Springer).

In summary, the field of Frontiers in Neuroscience, launched in 2008, has become the #1 most cited and #1 largest Open Access publisher in the JCR category of Neurosciences and the 3rd most cited and 4th largest Neuroscience publisher overall.

The specialty journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, listed in the 2014 JCR categories of Neurosciences and Psychology, has become the #****1 most cited journal in psychology, the #1 most cited Open Access journal dedicated to neuroscience and the 10th most cited journal in all of neuroscience. It is also the 2nd and 3rd largest journal in all of psychology and neuroscience, respectively.

Other Frontiers journals listed in the 2014 Journal Citation Reports follow a similar pattern – view the analysis here.

Key to success

At Frontiers, we publish all articles that are scientifically correct. We engineered the Collaborative Peer Review with a review mandate focused on enhancing article quality by means of rigorous and constructive feedback from expert reviewers, quick and direct interactions between authors, reviewers and the editor enabled by our review forum platform, and we enhance transparency by acknowledging reviewers and editors on the published articles. This performance analysis indicates that the impact neutral Collaborative Peer Review conducted in Frontiers together with an outstanding editorial board has become a powerful model for publishing academic papers.

All of this is only possible with a stellar editorial board of researchers (see infographic). Frontiers congratulates Field Chief Editor Idan Segev, and Assistant Field Chief Editors Larry Abbott, and Jon H Kaas for leading this field so successfully, the stellar board of Specialty Chief Editors (see below) for their work in building the community, the Associate Editors for safeguarding the integrity of the Frontiers peer-review and the outstanding Review Editors for their dedication and diligence in the peer-review process as well as the Frontiers Journal Management team for their support to the editors.

The field of Frontiers in Neuroscience fact sheet (as of December 2015):

Chief Editors:

Idan Segev, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Larry Abbott, Columbia University New York

Assistant Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Jon H Kaas, Vanderbilt University Nashville

Assistant Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Isabelle Peretz, Université de Montréal

Specialty Chief Editor, Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience

Robert J Zatorre, McGill University Montreal

Specialty Chief Editor, Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience

Joel C Bornstein, The University of Melbourne

Specialty Chief Editor, Autonomic Neuroscience

Vaughan G Macefield, Western Sydney University

Specialty Chief Editor, Autonomic Neuroscience

Vaughan G Macefield, Western Sydney University

Specialty Chief Editor, Autonomic Neuroscience

Russell A Poldrack, Stanford University San Francisco

Specialty Chief Editor, Brain Imaging Methods

Jean-Baptiste Poline, University of California Berkeley

Specialty Chief Editor, Brain Imaging Methods

Vishal Madaan, University of Virginia Health System Charlottesville

Specialty Chief Editor, Child and Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry

Hauke R Heekeren, Freie Universität Berlin

Specialty Chief Editor, Decision Neuroscience

Paul E. M. Phillips, University of Washington Seattle

Specialty Chief Editor, Decision Neuroscience

Aaron Vinik, Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk

Specialty Chief Editor, Diabetes

Karol Osipowicz, Jefferson Neuroscience Hospital Philadelphia

Specialty Chief Editor, Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience

Laura Ballerini, SISSA-ISAS International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste and University of Trieste

Specialty Chief Editor, Neural Technology

Ioan Opris, Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston Salem

Specialty Chief Editor, Neural Technology

Mark P Burns, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington

Specialty Chief Editor, Neurodegeneration

Wendy Noble, King’s College London

Specialty Chief Editor, Neurodegeneration

Einar M Sigurdsson, NYU School of Medicine

Specialty Chief Editor, Neurodegeneration

Hubert Vaudry, University of Rouen Mont-Saint-Aignan

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroendocrine Science

Suzanne L. Dickson, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

Walter H Kaye, UCSD

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

Pierre J Magistretti, Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroenergetics, Nutrition and Brain Health

A special thanks goes to: Angelique Bordey, Yale University School of Medicine New Haven

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenesis

A special thanks goes to: Maria J Donoghue, Georgetown University Washington

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenesis

Robert W Williams, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis

Specialty Chief Editor, Neurogenomics

Timothy K Horiuchi, The University of Maryland

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuromorphic Engineering

Giacomo Indiveri, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuromorphic Engineering

Nicholas M Barnes, University of Birmingham

Specialty Chief Editor, Neuropharmacology

A special thanks goes to: Niels Birbaumer, University of Tuebingen

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroprosthetics

A special thanks goes to: Eilon Vaadia, The Hebrew University Jerusalem

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Neuroprosthetics

Hiroaki Kitano, The Systems Biology Institute Tokyo

Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Aldana Maximino, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Cuernavaca

Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Raina Robeva, Randolph-Macon College and Sweet Briar College

Specialty Chief Editor, Systems Biology

Gemma Casadesus, Kent State University, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Rodrigo Orlando Kuljiš, University of Miami School of Medicine, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Nuno Sousa, ICVS, University of Minho Braga, Portugal

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

A special thanks goes to: Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Egidio D‘Angelo University of Pavia, Italy

Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Christian Hansel, University of Chicago, United States of America

Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Misha Tsodyks Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

Si Wu, Beijing Normal University, China

Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

Hauke R Heekeren, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Srikantan S Nagarajan, University of California, UC Berkeley, San Francisco, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

A special thanks goes to: John J Foxe, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York, USA

Former Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Sidney A Simon, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Elizabeth B Torres, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Assistant Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Robert J Harvey, UCL School of Pharmacy, London, United Kingdom

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Jochen C Meier, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Peter H Seeburg, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

Takao K. Hensch, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neural Circuits

Javier DeFelipe, Cajal Institute, Madrid, Spain

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy

Jan G Bjaalie, University of Oslo, Norway

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

Sean L Hill, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), Stockholm, Sweden

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics

Alois C Knoll, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neurorobotics

Florian Röhrbein, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

Assistant Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Neurorobotics

Mary B Kennedy, Caltech, Pasadena, USA

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience

Per Jesper Sjöström, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience

Ranulfo Romo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience

Maria V Sanchez-Vives, ICREA-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain

Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience