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Top 4 Journals Classification Systems Every Researcher Should Know

calendarDec 13, 2024 |clock16 Mins Read

If you’ve ever tried to figure out which journal is the best fit for your research or wondered how journals classification is carried out, you’ve probably come across terms like Quartiles, h-index, Impact Factor (IF), and Source Normalised Impact per Paper (SNIP). These metrics might sound technical, but they are simply tools to measure how much attention a journal’s research gets. Here’s a straightforward explanation of what they mean and how they work

Quartiles in Journals Classification: Ranking by Performance

The system of dividing journals into four quartiles, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, was created to make it easier to compare their quality and impact within a specific field. This idea became popular through Scopus and Journal Citation Reports (JCR) databases, which rank journals based on metrics like citations. The concept builds on the work of Eugene Garfield, who introduced the Impact Factor, offering a way to see how journals stand up against others. Quartiles break things down further: Q1 represents the top 25% of journals in a category, while Q4 includes those at the lower end. It's a straightforward way to help researchers determine which journals are most influential in their areas of study.

  • Q1: Top 25% of journals in the field (highest-ranked).
  • Q2: 25-50% (mid-high-ranked).
  • Q3: 50-75% (mid-low-ranked).
  • Q4: Bottom 25% (lowest-ranked).
Q1, q2, q3, and q4
Quartiles in Journals Classification
q3 journal meaning
q4 journal meaning

However, not all Q3 or Q4 journals are necessarily a disadvantage. While they may not be as well-known, they are still important in scientific research. Some of the benefits include:

  • Affordability: These journals are easier for researchers to access, especially for those on a tight budget.
  • Focused Topics: They tend to cover more specific, niche areas of study, making them great for in-depth exploration of certain subjects.
  • Great for New Researchers: Q3 and Q4 journals classification can be a good place for new researchers to publish their first paper and gain experience in the publishing world.
  • Ideal for Basic Research: They’re a great option for research that focuses on the basics of science

Finally, publishing your article in a Q3 or Q4 journal doesn’t mean it lacks value or won’t make an impact. If your work presents new findings that address a real problem, it can still attract attention, even when published in a lower-ranked journal.

h-index: A Balance of Quantity and Quality

The h-index score is an important factor in journal classification. It looks at the number of articles a journal has published and how often those articles are cited. It balances quantity (how many articles a journal publishes) with quality (how many of its articles are referenced).

For example, if a journal has an h-index of 15, it means it has published 15 articles, each cited at least 15 times. It’s a simple way to measure a journal’s influence without focusing too much on just one super-cited article or a bunch of rarely cited ones.

How h-index works:

Let’s say a journal has published 4 articles, and the number of citations for each article looks like this:

  • The 1st article has 10 citations – exceeds 1 citation.
  • The 2nd article has 24 citations – exceeds 2 citations.
  • The 3rd article has 5 citations – exceeds 3 citations.
  • The 4th article falls short of 4 citations.

In this case, the journal has three articles that each have at least three citations. The fourth article doesn’t hit the mark, so the h-index stops at 3.

How H-index works
Journals classification

This metric can help researchers, professionals, and institutions decide if a journal publishes research that gets noticed and cited by the academic community. It’s not the full picture, but it’s a useful starting point for understanding the journal’s influence.

Impact Factor: Citation Average

The Impact Factor (IF) is a number that shows how often a journal’s articles are cited on average over the past two years. It helps you understand how much attention the journal’s research gets from other scholars and it also helps with journals classification.

How it works?

To calculate the IF, look at how many times articles from a journal were cited in the past two years. Then, you divide that by the total number of articles the journal published in those two years. This gives you an average citation count per article. 

Example:

Let’s say we want to figure out the IF for Journal A in 2023:

  • In 2021 and 2022, Journal A published 50 articles.
  • In 2023, those articles were cited 200 times in total.
  • You take the total citations (200) and divide it by the total number of articles (50): 200 ÷ 50 = 4

So, Journal A has an Impact Factor of 4, meaning its articles were cited, on average, four times each. A higher Impact Factor often places journals higher in classification, but keep in mind that it’s not the full story. Some specialised journals may have lower Impact Factors even though they’re highly respected in their niche.

How impact factor work?
Journals classifications

SNIP: Fair Comparisons Across Fields

SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper) is a valuable metric in journals classification because it goes one step further. It measures contextual citation impact and takes into account the fact that different research fields have different citation habits. For instance, medical papers often get cited a lot, while mathematics papers don’t, even if they’re equally important in their fields.

SNIP adjusts the average citations a journal receives based on these differences, making it easier to compare journals across disciplines.

Example:

  • Journal A publishes in a low-citation field like social sciences and averages 3 citations per article. Adjusted for its field, its SNIP might be 1.6.
  • Journal B publishes in a high-citation field like biomedicine and has an average of 8 citations per article. After adjustment, its SNIP might be 1.2.

SNIP makes sure journals in fields with fewer citations still get the recognition they deserve.

What it tells you:

SNIP is especially useful for journal classification because it levels the playing field between disciplines. A higher SNIP score suggests that a journal’s articles are cited more often than expected for its field. It’s a helpful tool for comparing journals, but it’s just one of many ways to evaluate a journal’s influence or importance.

Below is a concise summary table of the four journal classification systems, followed by key considerations:

Journal ranking system comparison

SystemPurposeCalculationKey Insights
Quartiles (Q1-Q4)Ranks journals by performance within a field (e.g., biology, engineering).Journals divided into four equal groups based on citation metrics (e.g., Impact Factor):
Q1: Top 25%
Q2: 25-50%
Q3: 50-75%
Q4: Bottom 25%.
• Q1/Q2 = high prestige.
• Q3/Q4 = affordable, niche-focused, beginner-friendly.
• Lower quartiles ≠ low-value research.
h-indexMeasures journal influence by balancing article productivity and citations.A journal has index h if it published h articles each cited ≥ h times.
Example: h-index=15 means 15 articles cited ≥15 times each.
• Avoids over-reliance on single highly cited papers.
• Useful for gauging consistent impact.
Impact Factor (IF)Indicates average citation attention per article.IF = (Citations in year Y to articles from Y-1 and Y-2) ÷ (Articles published in Y-1 and Y-2).
Example: 200 citations ÷ 50 articles = IF 4.
• Higher IF = higher ranking.
• Field-dependent: STEM > humanities.
• Less meaningful for niche fields.
SNIPCompares journals fairly across fields by normalizing citation practices.Adjusts raw citations per paper by field’s typical citation density.
Example: 3 citations in social sciences (SNIP=1.6) vs. 8 in biomedicine (SNIP=1.2).
• Levels comparison between high/low-citation fields.
• SNIP >1 = above-field-average impact.

Key Considerations for All Systems

  1. No single metric tells the whole story – A journal may rank highly in one system but lower in another.
  2. Field-specific biases – Metrics like IF and SNIP adjust for disciplinary differences (e.g., mathematics vs. medicine).
  3. Beyond rankings – Lower-quartile/niche journals offer unique advantages (accessibility, specialization).
  4. Research goals matter – Choose a journal based on audience fit, not just classification.
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Reference Manager Integration Syncs with Zotero, Mendeley, etc., making it easy to import/export your research The tool also offers personalised paper recommendations and allows sharing collections with classmates or professors. It's especially useful for understanding how academic conversations have developed over time. Scite Scite analyses how research papers are cited by others. This helps students evaluate a paper's credibility by seeing how the academic community has responded to it. For example, a paper with many contrasting citations might have contested findings. Scite features: 1. Smart Citations Scite shows how a paper is cited, not just that it’s cited. It categorises citations into: Supporting (agreeing with the findings) Contrasting (disagreeing with the findings) Mentioning (neutral reference) This gives a clearer picture of a paper’s credibility and influence. 2. Citation Statements in Context You can see the actual sentence in which another paper cited the one you're reading, making it easier to understand how and why it was cited. 3. Research Discovery Scite helps users find high-quality, debated, or under-reviewed papers by showing citation patterns. You can also explore citation networks and related works. 4. Scite Assistant A chatbot-style AI that helps you ask questions and discover relevant research based on Scite’s citation database. 5. Research Dashboards & Reports Used by universities and institutions to analyse research impact, identify experts, or track fields of study. Scite is particularly valuable for checking if a source is reliable before using it in an assignment. Students can access it through individual or school licenses. Connected Papers Connected Papers creates visual graphs showing relationships between research papers. By entering one paper, students get a map of related studies. This tool helps find: Visual Graph Mapping Builds an interactive graph where each node represents a paper. Node size reflects citation count; colour shading shows publication year Spatial layout shows conceptual similarity—not direct citations—clustered accordingly Prior & Derivative Works “Prior works” highlights foundational studies cited by the cluster. “Derivative works” surfaces newer papers citing multiple cluster members Multi‑Origin Graphs Add additional seed papers to explore intersections across multiple topics Export Options Export bibliographic data (e.g., BibTeX) directly for reference managers Connected Papers is free to use, but doesn't cover every academic journal. Its strength is helping students understand the structure and history of a research topic through visual connections. How to Choose the Right AI Assistant for Your Needs Different AI research assistants work better for specific tasks. Here's a simple guide to help you pick the right tool: TaskBest ToolsWhyLiterature reviewZAIA, ElicitSearch across academic sources with summariesQuick answersPerplexity AIConversational interface for fast resultsChecking source reliabilitySciteShows how papers are cited by othersFinding related papersResearch Rabbit, Connected PapersVisual maps of connected research Your budget also matters when choosing a tool. Research Rabbit and Connected Papers are completely free. Perplexity AI offers free versions with premium options. ZAIA, Elicit, and Scite have both free features and paid plans with more capabilities. For students with limited funds, combining free tools can work well. For example, use Connected Papers to discover papers, then use ZAIA to summarise them. Addressing Credibility and Source Reliability When using AI research assistants, checking the reliability of information is important. Not all AI tools verify their sources equally well. To check AI-generated information: Look for the original source citation Verify the source exists in academic databases Confirm the AI accurately represented the source Some tools focus more on peer-reviewed content than others. ZAIA connects directly to academic databases with verified research. Elicit provides supporting quotes from papers. Scite shows how papers are cited in other academic work. For academic writing, it's essential to verify any citations an AI provides. Check that the publication exists, the authors are real, and the information matches what the AI claimed. This helps maintain academic integrity while still benefiting from AI assistance. Time-Saving Strategies With AI Research AI research assistants can significantly reduce the time spent on academic tasks. Here are some effective combinations of tools: For a literature review, try this workflow: Use Connected Papers to identify key papers in your field Import those papers into Elicit to extract main findings Use ZAIA to summarise complex papers you need to understand deeply This approach can reduce initial research time by focusing your reading on the most relevant materials. Semantic search, used in tools like ZAIA, finds results based on meaning rather than exact keywords. This helps find relevant papers even when they use different terminology. Traditional keyword search only finds exact matches, often missing important related research. AI summarisation tools extract the main points from research papers, allowing you to review more papers in less time. This is especially helpful when deciding which papers to read in full. Integrating AI Tools Into Your Research Process AI research assistants work alongside traditional research methods, they don't replace them. These tools help find and organise information, but students still need to read key papers and form their own understanding of the topic. Many AI tools connect with citation managers like Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley. This allows seamless transfer of references and citations between systems, keeping your bibliography organised. For group projects, some tools support collaborative research. Students can share collections of papers, AI-generated summaries, and notes with team members. This helps maintain consistent understanding across the group. A simple way to incorporate AI into your research: Define your research question Use an AI tool to find relevant papers Summarise key papers using AI features Export citations to your citation manager Organise findings by themes or relevance Empower Your Research Journey AI research assistants help students complete academic work more efficiently. They summarise papers, find relevant sources, organise citations, and show connections between studies, reducing time spent on repetitive tasks. These tools support but don't replace critical thinking. Students still evaluate sources, check accuracy, and form arguments based on evidence. The AI handles information processing, while students focus on understanding and analysis. The field of AI in academic research continues to develop. Future improvements may include better real-time collaboration, analysis of content in multiple languages, and more personalised recommendations based on your research interests. Zendy offers a comprehensive research platform that combines AI tools with access to a large academic content library. Its features include summarisation, keyphrase highlighting, and citation organisation, all designed to make research more accessible and efficient. FAQs About AI Research Assistants Which AI research assistants work well for students with limited budgets? Research Rabbit and Connected Papers are completely free. Perplexity AI offers a robust free version with its core features. Zendy provides affordable access to both free and subscription-based academic content through its platform. How do these AI tools handle different academic subjects? Coverage varies by tool. Elicit works well for science and medicine, while Connected Papers and Research Rabbit cover most academic fields. Some tools may be less effective for humanities or theoretical subjects where research is more conceptual. Can AI research assistants access subscription-based academic journals? Most free AI tools only search publicly available sources. Zendy provides access to subscription-based academic literature at a lower cost through partnerships with publishers, making paywalled content more accessible to students. Are citations from AI research assistants always accurate? No. Citations from AI tools should always be verified. Some tools may generate incorrect references or misinterpret sources. It's important to check citations against original sources or academic databases before including them in your work. .wp-block-image img { max-width: 85% !important; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; }

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