Assessing the Qualitative Influence of Journals in a Citation Network

The research community has long and often been fervently keen on debating the topic of journal influence. Well, just what is the influence of a journal? Today, the Science Citation Index (SCI) recognizes over 7,000 journals. The sheer number of available journals renders it pivotal for researchers to accurately gauge a journal’s influence when submitting their papers as it has become commonplace that researchers regard publishing their work in established journals to have significant impacts on peer recognition, remuneration, as well as tenure and promotion. Thus, having an objective and scientific way to evaluate the influence of a journal has never been more important.