Elsevier Announces Significant Increases In Impact Factors

Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced that more than 65 percent of its journals improved in impact factor, as reported in the 2006 Journal Citation Reports. In addition, 53 Elsevier titles ranked number one in their respective categories, including: Seminars in Radiation Oncology (#1 in Radiology); Landscape and Urban Planning (#1 in Urban Studies); Gastroenterology (#1 in Gastroenterology & Hepatology); Annals of Emergency Medicine (#1 in Emergency Medicine); The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (#1 in Allergy), Biomaterials (#1 in Materials Science, Biomaterials); and Journal of Catalysis (#1 in Engineering, Chemical).

“The continued increase in impact factors across our journals in both Science & Technology and Health Sciences demonstrates progress in building world class content, reflecting the dedicated effort of our editors and publishing staff,” said Mayur Amin, Senior Vice President, Research and Academic Relations.

The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The impact factor helps to evaluate a journal’s relative importance, especially when compared with others in the same field.

Other notable results among Elsevier Journals include:

• The Lancet continued to surge ahead in medicine and confirmed its position as the second highest ranked journal in the field with a two point increase in Impact Factor.

• Cancer Cell and Immunity, two Cell Press journals, also showed significant increases in Impact Factor, adding over five and three points to their Impact Factors respectively.

• Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-Molecular Cell Research, Elsevier’s oldest and biggest biochemistry journal, increased its impact factor substantially from 4.8 to 6.9 in 2006.

• Elsevier has the top four ranked titles in the electrochemistry category: 1) Biosensors and Bioelectronics; 2) Journal of Power Sources; 3) Electrochemistry Communications; and, 4) Electrochimica Acta.