Elsevier Announces 2009 Journal Impact Factor Highlights

AMSTERDAM, July 7, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the highlights of its journal Impact Factor performance in 2009. Elsevier saw over 65% of its journal Impact Factors (IFs) increase from 2008 to 2009. According to the 2009 Journal Citation Reports(R) published by Thomson Reuters, Elsevier journals took the #1 position in 57 of 230 categories (up from 51 of 229 last year) across all of the sciences and social sciences.

This year there were 95 Elsevier journals that increased their IF by more than 50% over their 2008 scores. Amongst the biggest movers are journals in energy & fuels, climate change, sustainable development and banking & finance, demonstrating Elsevier's leadership at the cutting edge of research into today's global challenges.

The Lancet and all three Lancet specialty journals improved their IFs this year. The Lancet's IF reached 30.758 this year, ranking it 2nd in the Medicine, General & Internal category. The Lancet Neurology increased by 27% to 18.126, retaining its position as top-ranked journal in the Clinical Neurology category for the 6th year running. The Lancet Infectious Diseases increased to 15.583, also retaining its position as top-ranked journal in its category of Infectious Diseases for the 6th year running. The Lancet Oncology rose to 14.470, ranking it 5th of 165 journals in the Oncology category.

Glen Campbell, Executive Vice President and head of Elsevier's health sciences journals, said of the results, "These significant Impact Factor increases, as well as those in more than 61% of our medical journals, reflect the dedication of our editors, reviewers, and authors, the high quality of our editorial content and our sharpened focus on author services."

Cell, the flagship journal of Cell Press, remains the number one research journal in the Cell Biology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology subject categories, with an Impact Factor of 31.152. Cell Press journals Cell Stem Cell (rating rose 40% to 23.563) and Cell Host and Microbe (rating rose 75% to 13.021) saw their Impact Factors surge.

Martin Tanke, Managing Director of Elsevier's Science and Technology Journals, noted, "We are continually grateful for the quality, commitment and integrity of our community of authors, reviewers and editors, all of whom contribute to publishing Elsevier's world class content."

In addition, 62 Elsevier journals earned their first IF this year. Some of these journals received very impressive scores including (from health sciences journals):

    - Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (3.862) - entering
      the Surgery category ranked 9th of 166 journals. (Published on
      behalf of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.)

    - The Spine Journal (2.902) - entering the Orthopedics
      category ranked 5th of 56 journals. (Published on behalf of the North
      American Spine Society.)

    - Alzheimer's & Dementia (4.553) - entering the Clinical Neurology
      category ranked 21st of 167 journals. (Published on behalf of the
      Alzheimer's Association.)

    - Nanomedicine - Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine (5.440) -
      entering the rankings in its two categories in the top quartile.

    - Body Image (2.193) - entering the Psychology,
      Multidisciplinary category ranked 19th of 111 journals.

    - Journal of International Management (1.854) - entering the
      Management category ranked 35th of 112 journals.

    - Ad Hoc Networks (1.293) - entering the rankings in its two
      categories in the second quartile.

    - Journal of Bionic Engineering (0.972) - entering the
      Engineering, Multidisciplinary category ranked 33rd of 79 journals.

The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The impact factor helps to evaluate a journal's relative importance, especially when compared with others in the same field.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/) and Cell (http://www.cell.com/), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com/ ), Reaxys (https://www.reaxys.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/) and Nursing Consult (http://www.nursingconsult.com/), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com/) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com/), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange)

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SOURCE Elsevier