Scientific publisher Nature Publishing Group (NPG), UK, has announced that its flagship publication Nature continues its position as the number one weekly science journal, with a new Impact Factor of 31.434. Thomson Reuters recently published the new Impact Factors in the 2008 Journal Citation Report (JCR), Science Edition.
Up from 28.751 last year, the new Impact Factor places Nature ahead of Science (28.103) and Cell (31.253), according to the 2008 JCR. Nature also has the highest Eigenfactor, an alternative measure of journal impact, of all 6598 journals included in the 2008 JCR.
NPG publishes 16 of the top 50 journals in the JCR, twice as many as any other scientific publisher. NPG journals - with Nature Photonics and The ISME Journal - received first Impact Factors this year. Nature Photonics, with a first Impact Factor of 24.982, has the highest debut Impact Factor of the 353 new journals listed in the 2008 JCR. The journal ranks first in both the Optics and Physics, Applied categories. A first Impact Factor for The ISME Journal of 5.029, places the journal in the top 10 percent of all journals in the 2008 JCR. Published on behalf of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME), The ISME Journal ranks 10 of 124 journals in the Ecology category.
Seven of the Nature research journals are ranked first in one or more category in the 2008 JCR. The clinical Nature Reviews journals all improved their Impact Factors this year, while the seven life science Nature Review journals remain the number one monthly review journals in their respective categories. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology now has the fourth highest Impact Factor (35.423) of all 6598 journals in the 2008 JCR.
NPG's academic and society journals performed well, with 16 journals in the top ten in their respective categories. Highlights include Molecular Systems Biology with an improved Impact Factor of 12.243. An open access journal, published in association with the European Molecular Biology Organization, Molecular Systems Biology ranks 10 in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology category.
In a separate indicator of excellence, Nature was last week named 'journal of the century' by the BioMedical & Life Sciences Division (DBIO) of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). Voted for by DBIO's 686 members, the award was given to celebrate SLA's Centennial and recognises the most influential journal of the last 100 years (1909-2009).
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