Journal of Health & Medical Informatics

Indexing and Impact Factor: Judging the Quality of a Journal

Abstract

Amit Kumar Koushik*

To increase visibility, availability, and readership of a journal, its publication must be indexed by one or more leading databases. The quality of a journal can be measured by assessing the indexation of that particular journal. Among various indexing databases, PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCO, SCOPUS, MedLine, SCIRUS are few main databases. Before choosing a database, it is important to understand the features it provides and the field of publication. IF do not tell us as much as some people may think about the respective quality of the science that journals are publishing. Regardless of a journal indexed in prominent databases, it is not necessary that the journal will have an IF. However, it is certain that IFs are still a standard administrators and researchers worldwide as a criterion to judges the quality of a journal, or even the quality of information or an individual. IFs will exist for a long time.