The Study on the Contribution of COVID-19 Papers to Journal Impact Factors

Abstract: Abstract: Purposes  To explore the impact of COVID-19 papers on journal impact factors, so as to deepen the understanding of the essential characteristics of this index, help to provide suggestions for the improvement of the influence of Chinese journals and also provide a reference for the rational evaluation of Sci-tech journals. Methods In view of the inflationary growth of journal impact factors based on Journal Citation Reports 2022,about 3.64 million publications and 18.64 million citations of 11,000 journals indexed by SCIE and SSCI were obtained, and about 33,000 COVID-19 papers are identified. The relationship between the contribution rate of COVID-19 papers and the increase of journal impact factor, and explore the contribution of COVID-19 papers to different divisions, subject areas and the impact factor of Chinese journals. Findings COVID-19 publications have positive effects on JIF in 87% journals, and have a contribution of 31.14% to the increasement of JIF. And the higher the JCR quartile of the journal, the greater the contribution. This effect is not limited to clinical medicine journals. China’s scientific journals have shown a large growth in JIF with 20.51% can be attributed to COVID-19 publications. Conclusions “Covidization” of scientific research has contributed to the increase in the impact factor of most journals. In face of such major public health emergencies, Chinese journals should seize research frontiers and hotspots, enhance emergency publishing capabilities, and improve academic influence and brand recognition. At the same time, more robust indicators and more fine-grained classification systems should be explored to meet the great challenges brought by such emergencies to the scientific research evaluation system.