The Growing Impact of CiteScore as a Bibliometric Indicator: A Global Contextual Analysis of Adoption, Reliability, and Influence on Academic Publishing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71426/jassh.v2.i2.pp102-113Keywords:
CiteScore, Bibliometric indicators, Scopus, Journal Impact Factor, Open access, Research evaluation, Academic publishing, University Grants Commission (UGC).Abstract
CiteScore became an influential metric in academic publishing when Elsevier introduced it in late 2016. Coverage of journals within the CiteScore dataset increased by approximately 38% during the same time frame (from 22,615 in 2017 to 31,138 in 2024 and to 50,040 in 2026). Accordingly, regression analyses used data on yearly increases in the number of journals included in each subsequent year's dataset. The results indicated a very strong linear correlation (Pearson r = 0.9901) between year and journal coverage with a very high level of explanation for this association (R² = 0.9804). Because t(8) = 18.69 is statistically significant (p < 0.001), these findings provide clear evidence supporting hypothesis one (H1) and confirm that CiteScore adoption will continue at a consistent pace. The reliability of CiteScore was assessed in relation to Journal Impact Factors (JIFs) and other various disciplinary categories. Results showed that correlations between CiteScore and JIFs were similar across disciplines. For example, medical journals had a Spearman ρ = 0.91, indicating that these two measures of impact were ranked very similarly within this field. These results provide support for hypothesis two (H2) and suggest that CiteScore may serve as a viable alternative to existing measures of impact. Finally, we also examined trends in open access publishing. Our results show that both CiteScore and JIF-tracked journals have similar proportions of open access articles. However, our examination did not find that either type of journal disproportionately benefits from CiteScore relative to JIF tracking. Ultimately, our findings emphasize the need for future investigations into CiteScore's effects on journal behavior, author submission patterns, and other aspects of the broader research evaluation ecosystem.
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DOI prefix: 10.71426
