There are different metrics that can be used to rank journals. One widely used metric is the Impact Factor that measures the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year.

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) from Thomson Reuters is the most common tool for locating impact factors and other metrics for leading journals in the sciences and social sciences. Cabells Scholarly Analytics is a another major resource provided by University Libraries for finding metrics.

Note: not every journal publication has a calculated impact factor.

For additional details and tools for finding a variety of journal and author metrics, see the library's online guide for Impact Measures.