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Int Urogynecol J (2014) 25:16011602 DOI 10.1007/s00192-014-2522-7
EDITORIAL
Medical Journal Impact Factor 2013: ongoing task of getting the right balance
P. Riss & P. L. Dwyer
Published online: 30 September 2014# The International Urogynecological Association 2014
At the end of July 2014, the Medical Journal Impact Factor for 2013 was released. This event is always eagerly awaited as if the fate of the scientific publishing business as a whole and of individual editors and authors hangs in the balance. There is no doubt that the impact factor is of major importance andas the name impliesimpact. It is a yardstick against which the success of journals is measured and a metric of importance for the careers of many researchers and clinicians. However, this is not the end of the story. Other factors of importance to authors in deciding on a journal in which to publish is who will be reading my research, and what are the chances of my research being published and how quickly.
The new Impact Factor (IF) 2013 for the International Urogynecology Journal (IUJ) is 2.161. This is virtually unchanged from the previous year, when the IF was 2.169. The IUJ is now ranked 27 of 78 in the category Obstetrics and Gynecology and 26 of 75 in the category Urology and Nephrology, also practically unchanged from 2012 [1].
When discussing the impact factor, it is always good to remember how it is calculated and, as a consequence, which factors influence it. The calculation is citations in...