Coming soon: 2017 analysis based on the most recent Journal Citation Reports by Clarivate Analytics (formerly published by Thomson Reuters).

13.Jul.2016: Frontiers in Pharmacology received the 2015 Impact Factor of 4.418 — up from 3.802 in the previous report. Since its launch in 2010, it has become the #2 most cited open-access  journal in Pharmacology and Pharmacy.

Impact Factor (IF), defined as the total number of citations in a given year divided by the number of citable articles over the previous two-year period, is the most commonly accepted metric of journal quality (but not of an individual paper or researcher). 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 indication of the overall  influence or impact of the articles published by a journal in a field. Frontiers is a pioneer in the use of article-level and author-level metrics and encourages every author to use these to track the development of his or her readership on a more granular level.

Analysis within the category of Pharmacology and Pharmacy

There are 253 journals listed in the category of Pharmacology and Pharmacy in the 2015 Journal Citations Reports (JCR) provided by Thomson Reuters in 2016. Frontiers in Pharmacology  is one of the 26 open-access journals.

Below, the results of our comparative analysis on the article volume published, IF and the total number of citations achieved in 2015, based on articles published over the two preceding years, 2013 and 2014.  (Click here to see the volume and number of citations of other Frontiers journals).

Total citations among all open-access journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy

Figure 1. Total number of citations in 2015 for articles published in 2013 and 2014, ranked for all (26) open-access journals listed in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy JCR category. Plot shows ranks for the top 25 most-cited open-access journals, where (in red) Frontiers in Pharmacology ranks #2 most-cited (top 6%). The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Total citations among all journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy

Figure 2. Total number of citations in 2015 for articles published in 2013 and 2014, ranked for all  (253) journals (open-access and subscription) listed in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy  JCR category. Plot shows the ranks for the top 50 most-cited journals, where  (in red) Frontiers in Pharmacology ranks #36 most-cited (top 14%). The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Relationship between volume and Impact Factor for all open-access journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy

Figure 3. Volume of citable items in 2015, plotted against the 2015 journal Impact Factor, for all (26) open-access journals listed in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy  JCR category. Plot shows all open-access journals in the category, with (in red) Frontiers in Pharmacology. D__ot size is proportional to the total number of citations received during the citation-counting period. The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016. 

Relationship between volume and Impact Factor for all journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy

Figure 4. Volume of citable items in 2015, plotted against the 2015 journal Impact Factor, for all 253 journals (open-access  and subscription) listed in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy JCR category. Plot shows all journals in the category, with (in red) Frontiers in Pharmacology. Dot size is proportional to the total number of citations received during the citation-counting period. The journal analysis is based on the 2015 Journal Citation Reports published by Thomson Reuters in 2016. 

Summary

Amongst the 26 open-access journals listed in the category of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Frontiers in Pharmacology :

• Is the 4th largest Pharmacology journal– 2 times larger than the average article volume in all journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy.

• Is the 2nd most-cited journal in 2015 based on articles published in 2013 and 2014

• Is in the top 2% of Impact Factors.

Amongst all of the 253 journals listed in the category of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Frontiers in Pharmacology :

• Is the 31st largest Pharmacology journal overall – 2 times larger than the average article volume in all journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy.

• Is the 36th most-cited journal in 2015 based on articles published in 2013 and 2014

• Is in the top 13% of Impact Factors.

In summary, Frontiers in Pharmacology , one of the youngest journals publishing peer-reviewed scholarly articles in Pharmacology, has become the 31st largest and 36th most-cited journal in Pharmacology and Pharmacy with an impact factor in the top 13%.

Further significance

The results are more significant if one considers:

1. Frontiers does not engineer the IF by setting a rejection rate, and instead operates an impact neutral peer-review process.

2. The impact factor of Frontiers in Pharmacology  has been increasing from 3.941 in 2013 to 4.418 in 2016 JCR.

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 quality academic papers at scale.

All of this is only possible with a stellar editorial board of researchers (see infographic). Frontiers congratulates Field Chief Editor Théophile Godfraind, the outstanding board of Specialty Chief Editors and the diligent work of the Associate and Review Editors (see full board) and  the Frontiers Journal Management team for this spectacular achievement_._

Frontiers in Pharmacology  fact sheet (as of June 2016):

The same analysis of volume, impact factor and number of citations of other Frontiers journals can be found here.

Similar analysis for the 2014 JCR can be found here.

Chief Editors (see full board):

Théophile Godfraind, Université Catholique de Louvain, | Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Pharmacology

Jeffrey Atkinson, Université Henri Poincare, | Specialty Chief Editor, Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology

Nicholas Barnes, University of Birmingham, | Specialty Chief Editor, Neuropharmacology

Jeffrey Scott Barrett, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, | Specialty Chief Editor, Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology

Alex Chen, Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, | Specialty Chief Editor_,_Integrative and Regenerative Pharmacology

Yung-Chi Cheng, Yale University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Ethnopharmacology

George Joseph Christ, University of Virginia, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Integrative and Regenerative Pharmacology

Diana Conte Camerino, University of Bari (Aldo Moro), Italy | Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmacology of Ion Channels and Channelopathies

Dominique Dubois, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium | Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmaceutical Medicine and Outcomes Research

Olivier Feron, University of Louvain, | Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs

Giuseppe Giaccone, Georgetown University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics

Dov Greenbaum, Yale University, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, ELSI in Science and Genetics

Ursula Gundert-Remy, Charité, France | Specialty Chief Editor, Predictive Toxicology

Michael Heinrich, The School of Pharmacy, University of London | Specialty Chief Editor,Ethnopharmacology

Pamela Hornby, Johnson & Johnson | Specialty Chief Editor, Gastrointestinal Pharmacology

Jaime Kapitulnik, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel | Specialty Chief Editor, Drug Metabolism and Transport

Philippe Lory, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) & University of Montpellier | Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmacology of Ion Channels and Channelopathies

Martin Michel, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG | Specialty Chief Editor,Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology

Paolo Montuschi, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore | Specialty Chief Editor, Respiratory Pharmacology

Eliot Ohlstein, Drexel University College of Medicine | Specialty Chief Editor, Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology

Paola Patrignani, Gabriele d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara | Specialty Chief Editor,Inflammation Pharmacology

Salvatore Salomone, Catania University | Specialty Chief Editor, Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery

Yisong Wang, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health | Specialty Chief Editor,Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics

Anne Zajicek, National Institutes of Health, USA | Specialty Chief Editor, Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology

Ulrich M Zanger, Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch-Institute of Clinical Pharmacology | Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics