Author: John A. Wagner, MD, PhD on July 18, 2018 
The most recent impact factor (IF) numbers are in, and Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) is clocking in at 1.954, a more than 2-fold increase over the previous year. Simply stated, the IF is a way of assessing journal performance by calculating how often researchers cite journal papers. Thus, it’s an approximation of the influence and intellectual rigor of the published research. Here’s a quick lesson on how IF works: Clarivate Analytics, the organization that publishes the Journal Citation Reports, which includes the IF, calculates the number of current year citations of articles published in the 2 previous years, which is then divided by the number of articles published during those two years.
Essentially, the IF provides a 2-year rolling citation average. CTS has now been published by ASCPT for 2 full years (2016 and 2017), which means we “own” half of the overall 2017 metric, with the other half attributed to the previous editorial management. Long story short is that we look forward to further increases in IF in the coming years.
A big thanks to ASCPT membership, CTS authors and readers, and the many folks who make the Journal work, including editors and reviewers, as well as ASCPT and Wiley staff. This is your impact factor! The journal owes its success to all of you. The vision for CTS is to become the beacon and organizing principle for the field of translational medicine, as well as to provide a vehicle for ASCPT member publications. The laser focus and implementation of this vision has driven the new IF results and remains well-aligned with the 2015-2020 ASCPT Strategic Plan, asserting the Society’s as the authority on the science and practice of translational medicine.
IF is not the only way to measure journal influence. Other metrics of impact include downloads and Altmetrics; these metrics also demonstrate strong results. Downloads is an obvious impact metric that measures how often journal readers take the time to download an article. CTS downloads have shown impressive growth since we relaunched in 2016. The most downloaded article in CTS, Immunotherapy and Novel Combinations in Oncology: Current Landscape, Challenges, and Opportunities by Morrissey et al., was published in 2016 and has been downloaded more than 16,944 times, suggesting substantial impact in the field. The Altmetric score is a measure of attention articles garner, including through venues such as news outlets and social media. To date, the article with the highest Altmetric score in CTS, Animal-to-Human Dose Translation of Obiltoxaximab for Treatment of Inhalational Anthrax Under the US FDA Animal Rule by Nagy et al., was published in 2016, again suggesting substantial attention in the field.
Please continue to help drive CTS’ impact and submit to CTS!
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