Our impact metrics reflect the power of research that is open to all. We measure and communicate a range of metrics, including Impact Factor, CiteScore, overall citation rate, aggregate views and downloads, and news and social media mentions.

In 2021, Frontiers was the 3rd most-cited publisher. Average citations increased from 4.8 in 2020 to 5.5 in 2021 for recent articles published with us.

Analysis of the world's 20 largest publishers by volume, ranked by average number of citations in 2021 received by articles published in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (Dimensions, 2022). Frontiers ranked 3rd most-cited with an average of 5.5 citations per article.

In 2021, Frontiers articles were viewed and downloaded 519 million times, totalling 1.9 billion overall. This is an increase of 64% over the previous year. Article citations also increased by 51%, totalling 3.8 million citations.

Frontiers (2022)

Following the 2022 release of the Web of Science Group's Journal Citation Report (JCR 2022) and Scopus' CiteScore, 51 of the journals published by Frontiers have a Journal Impact Factor and 73 journals have a CiteScore.

The Journal Impact Factor is the average number of citations received in the last year to articles published in the previous two years. It is measured each year by the Web of Science Group and reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). The 2021 Journal Impact Factors, published in the 2022 Journal Citation Report, are based on citations in 2021 to articles published in 2019 and 2020.

The CiteScore journal impact metric measures the average citations received in a four-year time window to selected documents published in the same four years. The 2021 CiteScores (released in 2022) are based on citations received in 2018-2021 to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers published in 2018-2021, and divides this by the number of these documents published in 2018-2021. CiteScore covers all journal titles in Elsevier's Scopus database and is released once a year.

The graph below depicts the percentile rank of Frontiers journals (blue dots) in their respective JCR category (2021 JIF). There are 6 Frontiers journals in the top 10% in at least one category, and 23 journals are in the top 25%.

JCR Category

Percentile Rank

Journal Citation Report (2022)

Many of our journals rank among the most influential in their fields, including the most cited in neurosciences, immunology, microbiology, plant science, and psychology.

Ranking of the top 10 most-cited journals in several JCR categories (released in 2022 by Web of Science Group). Bar plots show the total number of citations received in 2021 to articles published in 2019 and 2020, with Frontiers journals in blue.

Journal Citations Report (2021)

*Neurosciences (SCIE) category: The ranking is calculated from 2021 Journal Impact Factor citations to all journals in the Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series. The Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series includes all Frontiers journals in the Neurosciences (SCIE) category with the exception of Frontiers in Neurology.

Ranking of the top 10 most-cited journals in several 2021 CiteScore categories (released in 2022 by Scopus, Elsevier). Bar plots show the total number of citations received in 2018–2021 to articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters and data papers published in 2018–2021, with Frontiers journals in blue.

Scopus (2022)

*Neuroscience subject area: The ranking is calculated from 2021 CiteScore citations to all journals in the Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series. The Frontiers in Neuroscience journal series includes all Frontiers journals in the field of Neuroscience with the exception of Frontiers in Neurology.

Frontiers’ articles achieve international visibility with more than 151,000 news mentions and 2.3 million social media mentions.

To benchmark the reach, influence and quality of our journals, we measure and communicate a range of indicators of our journals’ impact, including Journal Impact Factors, CiteScores, overall citation rates, aggregate views and downloads, press pick-ups, and social media mentions.

We fully support the responsible use of Journal Impact Factors, other quantitative research metrics, and innovative ways for researcher evaluation, as proposed by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, to which we are a signatory), the Leiden Manifesto, the Metric Tide for Responsible Metrics and the European Commission's Expert Group on Altmetrics.