Introduction
For any PhD scholar in India navigating the complex world of publishing, the term impact factor often comes up in conversations with guides, supervisors, or peers. Sometimes it’s used as a benchmark, other times as a badge of honour. But what exactly is it? And more importantly, should you, as a researcher, even worry about it? This blog breaks down the idea of impact factor in clear, contextual terms relevant to Indian academia.
Understanding the Impact Factor
The impact factor is a metric used to measure the average number of citations received by articles published in a specific journal over a certain period, typically two years. It is calculated and released annually by Clarivate Analytics through its Journal Citation Reports (JCR).
For example, if Journal X published 100 articles over two years and those articles were cited 500 times in the following year, its impact factor would be 5.0. It’s essentially an average citation count — a statistical tool.
However, the importance assigned to this number goes far beyond its basic meaning.
Why It Became So Respected
The impact factor became popular because it gave academic institutions a quick way to assess the perceived quality of a journal. In competitive academic environments — especially where faculty promotions, funding decisions, and institutional rankings are influenced by research output — this metric has become something of a shortcut for evaluating credibility.
In India, universities (particularly private and deemed universities) often consider the impact factor when approving research publications for internal credit or evaluation. Funding agencies and research committees may also favour publications in high-impact journals during proposal reviews.
Criticisms of the Impact Factor
Despite its wide use, many in the academic community — in India and globally — are increasingly critical of the impact factor. Here’s why:
- It reflects the journal, not the article: A paper in a high-impact journal may go uncited, while a niche article in a lesser-known journal may be widely cited.
- Discipline bias: Subjects like medicine or life sciences tend to have higher citation rates, so their journals naturally have higher impact factors. In contrast, humanities journals may score lower, not due to poor quality but due to citation culture.
- Citation inflation: Some journals may encourage citation of articles within the same journal to boost their scores.
- Neglects other forms of impact: Groundbreaking work in Indian languages or region-specific studies may be deeply influential locally but not feature in mainstream citation metrics.
Should You Care About It?
So, should a PhD student or early-career scholar in India care about impact factors? The answer depends on your goals.
- If you’re applying for academic jobs or promotions: Some Indian institutions, particularly technical universities, still use impact factor as a proxy for quality. So, yes, it may matter.
- If you’re pursuing international recognition or funding: Journals with higher impact factors often have wider readership, so publishing there can enhance your academic visibility.
- If your research is niche, regional, or interdisciplinary: You may want to prioritise relevance and readership over impact factor.
- If your field has its own indexing systems: For example, the Indian Citation Index (ICI) or UGC-CARE list — those may be more immediately relevant than JCR metrics.
Alternative Metrics to Consider
In recent years, alternatives to the impact factor have emerged:
- h-index: Measures both productivity and citation impact of an individual researcher.
- CiteScore (Scopus): Uses a broader dataset and a longer citation window than JCR.
- Altmetrics: Looks at online mentions, downloads, and media coverage.
- UGC-CARE list: Especially important for Indian scholars, this focuses more on journal legitimacy and ethical publishing.
These tools are not replacements but supplements — they help create a more nuanced view of impact beyond just one number.
A Balanced Approach to Publishing
Instead of chasing only high-impact journals, Indian PhD students can adopt a more practical approach:
- Focus on journals that match your research scope, even if their impact factor is moderate.
- Ensure the journal is indexed in a recognised database (like Scopus, Web of Science, or UGC-CARE).
- Look at the quality of peer review, editorial board, and publication ethics.
- Consider your career stage — it’s better to publish in a solid, mid-tier journal than to get rejected repeatedly by top-tier ones.
Publishing should be about communicating your work, not gaming a metric.
Conclusion
In Indian academic circles, the impact factor still carries weight — but its dominance is gradually being questioned. As a PhD scholar, your publishing decisions should align with your academic goals, subject discipline, and ethical considerations. A well-written, relevant, and rigorously reviewed article will always carry value — whether or not it appears in a journal with a high impact factor.
Rather than viewing the impact factor as the final word on quality, use it as one of many tools to assess where your work might best fit. The real impact of your research lies not in a number, but in its contribution to knowledge, community, and conversation.