Impact factors of the sport sciences journals: Current trends, relative positions, and temporal stability.

The impact factor is a bibliometric index that reflects the frequency with which the “average article” of a scientific journal has been cited in subsequent publications. The purpose of the present study was to examine the current trends of the impact factor of the sport sciences journals, its relative position in relation to journals belonging to other scientific fields, and its temporal stability. Scientific journals' impact factors classified under the “Sport Sciences” subject category of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database from 2000 to 2006 were included in the present study. Results showed that during that period of time, 78 journals appeared in the “Sport Sciences” subject category. The mean impact factor rose from 0.851 (median=0.747) in 2000 to 1.178 (median=1.155) in 2006, following a linear trend or even a quadratic trend. The overall mean impact factor of the “Sport Sciences” category was 0.954 (median=0.876). In relation to the other 172 subject categories of the Science Edition of the JCR, “Sport Sciences” was placed slightly below the middle for the year 2006. Finally, intra-class correlation coefficients (0.850) suggested that “Sport Sciences” journals' impact factors remained relative stable during the seven years examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]