Abstract
BACKGROUND: The number of active journals in scholarly publishing has steadily risen. The journal impact factor (JIF) is the most widely used metric for assessing the impact and prestige of a scientific journal. The COVID- 19 pandemic triggered a significant shift in the global academic landscape, particularly in biomedical research.
AIMS: To systematically investigate the impact of COVID- 19 on the impact factor of top biomedical journals to address the existing knowledge gap on this matter.
METHODS: Between 2019 and 2023, the impact factor of the top 20 biomedical journals listed in the 2023 Journal Citation Report (JCR) was analysed using a descriptive-analytical approach. Data on JIFs and publications, including COVID- 19-related articles, were collected from Clarivate's Web of Science and PubMed.
RESULTS: JIFs of the top 20 biomedical journals increased significantly (83.4%) from 2019 to 2021, coinciding with a surge in COVID- 19 publications. This trend stabilised in 2022 but declined by 15.1% in 2023. The number of publications related to COVID- 19 peaked in 2021 (57.3%) and decreased by 12.5% in 2022 and 29.0% in 2023.
CONCLUSIONS: This study unveils a significant impact of COVID- 19 on the impact factor of top biomedical journals. The increase in JIFs during the pandemic aligns with the surge in COVID- 19 research, but the subsequent decline suggests a potential shift in research focus or knowledge saturation. The study underscores the limitations of JIF as a sole metric for evaluating journal quality and highlights the importance of alternative metrics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1155-1160 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE |
| Volume | 194 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | Apr 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2025 |