An Analysis of the Impact Factor of University Journals

In 2001, the impact factor of university journals listed as the sources for Chinese Science Paper Statistics is 0.140, not only lower than the mean factor of 0.264 for Chinese statistical source periodicals, but also much lower than that of international periodicals during the same period. Elements affecting the impact factor of university journals are timelag in publication, indexing system, subjects, language, policy guidance and level of science and technology, etc. Impact factor is an important, though not exclusive, index for the evaluation of quality of university journals. Measures to raise the impact factor of university journals are as follow: highquality contributions, proper policy guidance, shortening of the timelag in publication, diminishing the linguistic effect and readjustment of journal structures. 