Bibliometric Analysis as a Tool in Journal Evaluation

A new formula for establishing the relationship between the number of papers (n) published in a journal of physics, chemistry or biology and the rank (R) of the journal concerned is proposed. The new formula is straightforward and simple, and appears to lead to a reasonably accurate prediction of the number of published source items in a journal, provided the rank of the journal is known. The proposed formula may be considered as a modification of or alternative to Bradford's law.