Analysis of changing pattern of citation metrics of the <i>Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility</i>

The Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (JNM) was launched in January 2010 through the conversion of the Korean Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility which had been published in 1994 through 2009 as the official journal of the Korean Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. The main aim of JNM is to provide worldwide researchers, especially Asian researchers, an accessible platform for the publication of their research results in the field of neurogastroenterology and motility. Owing to the active participation of society members and devotion of the editorial board members, JNM was finally accepted as one of the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) journals in 2013. As a result, JNM now becomes an official journal jointly published by the Korean Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, the Thai Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, the Japanese Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, the Indian Motility and Functional Disease Association, the Chinese Society of Gastrointestinal Motility, the South East Asia Gastro-Neuro Motility Association, the Taiwan Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, and the Asian Neurogastroenterology and Motility Association. However, the impact factor (IF), one of influential factors of journals, tends to decrease recently. In this essay, we would like to evaluate the possible causes for the decreased IF and then propose the methods to increase the IF in JNM.