Impact
Our impact metrics reflect the power of research that is open to all. We measure and communicate a range of metrics, including Impact Factor, CiteScore, overall citation rate, aggregate views and downloads, and news and social media mentions.
3rd most-cited publisher
In 2020, Frontiers was the 3rd most-cited publisher. Average citations increased from 3.9 in 2019 to 4.8 in 2020 for every article published with us.
Analysis of the world's 20 largest publishers by volume, ranked by average number of citations in 2020 received by articles published in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (Dimensions, 2021). Frontiers ranked 3rd most-cited with an average of 4.8 citations per article.
1.5 billion views and downloads | 3 million citations
In 2021, Frontiers articles were viewed and downloaded 515 million times, totalling 1.5 billion overall. This is an increase of 64% over the previous year. Article citations also increased by 46%, totalling 3 million citations.
Impact Factor
and CiteScore
Following the 2021 release of the Web of Science Group's Journal Citation Report (JCR 2021) and Scopus' CiteScore, 46 of the journals published by Frontiers have a Journal Impact Factor and 57 journals have a CiteScore.
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). The 2020 Journal Impact Factors, published in the 2021 Journal Citation Report, are based on citations in 2020 to articles published in 2018 and 2019.
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. The 2020 CiteScores are based on citations received in 2017-2020 to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers published in 2017-2020, and divides this by the number of these documents published in 2017-2020. CiteScore covers all journal titles in Elsevier's Scopus database and is released once a year.
Frontiers journals improved their Journal Impact Factor ranking in 30 out of 39 categories in the 2021 Journal Citation Report. There are 4 Frontiers journals in the top 10% in at least one category, and 23 journals are in the top 25%.
Impact Factors
Percentile rank of Frontiers journals in their respective JCR category (2020)
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). The 2020 Journal Impact Factors are based on citations in 2020 to articles published in 2018 and 2019. The graph below depicts the percentile rank of Frontiers journals (blue dots) in their respective JCR category.
Most cited
journals
Many of our journals rank among the most influential in their fields, including the most cited in neurosciences, immunology, microbiology, plant science, and psychology.
Ranking of the top 10 most-cited journals in several JCR categories (released in 2021 by Web of Science Group). Bar plots show the total number of citations received in 2020 to articles published in 2018 and 2019, with Frontiers journals in blue.
*Neurosciences: The ranking is calculated from total citations for all journals in the Frontiers Neuroscience journal series, in the Neuroscience subject area (JCR 2021 update). The Frontiers Neuroscience journal series includes all Frontiers journals in the field of Neuroscience.
Ranking of the top 10 most-cited journals in several 2020 CiteScore categories (released in 2021 by Scopus, Elsevier). Bar plots show the total number of citations received in 2017–2020 to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters and data papers published in 2017–2020, with Frontiers journals in blue.
*Neurosciences: The ranking is calculated from total citations for all journals in the Frontiers Neuroscience journal series, in the Neuroscience subject area (CiteScore 2020 edition). The Frontiers Neuroscience journal series includes all Frontiers journals in the field of Neuroscience.