Towards appropriate indicators of journal impact

This paper reviews a range of studies conducted by the authors on indicator s reflecting scholarly journal impact. A critical examination of the journa l impact data in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), published by the Insti tute for Scientific Information (ISI) has shown that the JCR impact factor is inaccurate and biased towards journals revealing a rapid maturing or dec line in impact. In addition, it was found that the JCR cited half life is a n inappropriate measure of decline of journal impact. More appropriate impa ct measures of scholarly journals are proposed. A new classification system is explored, describing both maturing and decline of journal impact as mea sured through citations. Suggestions for future research are made, analysin g in more detail the distribution of citations among papers in a journal.