Influence of COVID- 19 pandemic on impact factors of top biomedical journals.

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.