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Impact Metrics : Eigenfactor Score

How are Eigenfactor Scores typically used?

Stacked books next to a pen iconEigenfactor Scores are typically used in an effort to quantify the influence of a journal as compared to other journals.

Eigenfactor Scores are a journal level metric.

How are Eigenfactor Scores calculated?

Eigenfactor Scores are based on the weighted number of citations in a given year to citable publications published in the journal within the 5 preceding years. Citations from publications published in more prestigious journals will receive greater weight than those from less prestigious journals. Self citations (e.g., an article from Journal A citing another article in Journal A) are excluded from the calculation. The sum of all all journals' Eigenfactor Scores is equal to 100.

For additional information on how the Eigenfactor Score is calculated, see Eigenfactor Score and Article Influence Score: Detailed Methods.

Note: Eigenfactor Scores are only available for journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Additionally, Eigenfactor Scores will be based only on citing publications in JCR. (i.e., citations from publications that are not in JCR will not be factored into Eigenfactor Scores).

How do I read an Eigenfactor Score?

For example, The Journal of Amazing Examples (JAE) has an Eigenfactor Score of 1.2 in 2015. This means that publications published in JAE in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 cumulatively received 1.2% of the total influence of all publications indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

For reference, the top 100 journals in the Eigenfactor.org database had a 2015 Eigenfactor Score between 0.114 and 1.814.

Where can I find a journal's Eigenfactor Score?

You can find a journal's Eigenfactor Score on Eigenfactor.org or in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Note that Eigenfactor.org is publicly accessible.

Finding a journal's Eigenfactor Score on Eigenfactor.org Eigenfactor.org logo

  1. Go to Eigenfactor.org
  2. Enter the name of the journal into the search bar
  3. Look for the journal in your results list
  4. The journal's Eigenfactor Score (EF) should display in the third column from the left

Note: There is also a column that displays the EF score as a percentile (to the right of the journal name). The higher the percentile, the higher the Eigenfactor ranking.

Finding a journal's Eigenfactor Score on Journal Citation Reports (JCR) JCR logo

  1. Go to JCR
  2. Enter the name of the journal into the search bar
  3. Look for your journal in the results list
  4. Click the name of the journal (note: if your journal's name is unique enough, JCR may take you to the journal's page automatically)
  5. Scroll down until you see the heading for "Additional Metrics" (towards the bottom of the page)
  6. The Eigenfactor Score should be displayed on the left-hand side of the page

What are some limitations of the Eigenfactor Score as a metric?

Like any impact metric, Eigenfactor Scores have their limitations. Some of these limitations include:

  • Largely limited to English and U.S. based journals
  • May be skewed by citation outliers (e.g., a single article may receive the vast majority of citations)
  • Not all citations are "good" citations (e.g., Article A may cite Article B to reject Article B's findings)
  • A "good" Eigenfactor Score differs by field
  • Does not take into account social impact (e.g., an article trending on Twitter)
  • Journals that output more publications will receive a bigger Eigenfactor Score
  • Complex, and, due to large dataset, difficult to replicate
  • Like all impact metrics, vulnerable to gamification (e.g., journal citation cartels)

Where can I learn more?

For an in-depth look into how the Eigenfactor Score is calculated, see:

For an overview of the Eigenfactor Score, see:

For an overview of different metrics types, including the Eigenfactor Score, see:

For a look into journal citation cartels (which can manipulate journal level metrics, including Eigenfactor Scores) see: