- What Does the Eigenfactor Score Measure?
- The Eigenfactor Calculation (Conceptual Overview)
- Eigenfactor Score vs Article Influence Score
- Eigenfactor in the JCR: How to Find It
- Comparing Journals Using Eigenfactor: Practical Examples
- Large vs small journals
- Detecting potential JIF gaming
- Detecting potential JIF gaming
- How Eigenfactor Compares to Impact Factor
- Why the Eigenfactor Is More Resistant to Gaming
- Practical Uses of the Eigenfactor
- Evaluating a journal’s true network influence
- Comparing journals in slow-citation fields
- Using Article Influence Score for per-article comparison
- Where to Find Eigenfactor Scores
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a good Eigenfactor Score?
- Does Eigenfactor count self-citations?
- Where can I find Eigenfactor scores for free?
- Is a higher Eigenfactor Score always better?
- Conclusion
Among the various journal metrics available to researchers, the Eigenfactor Score is one of the most methodologically sophisticated and least understood. Developed at the University of Washington and available free at eigenfactor.org, the Eigenfactor measures a journal’s total influence in the scientific literature using a network-based algorithm — the same mathematical logic as Google’s PageRank.
Understanding the Eigenfactor and its companion metric, the Article Influence Score, helps researchers evaluate journals more accurately, detect potential gaming of simpler metrics, and make better-informed publication decisions.
What Does the Eigenfactor Score Measure?
The Eigenfactor Score is a volume metric that measures the total influence of all the articles in a journal — not the average influence per article. This means that large journals with many articles will generally have higher Eigenfactor Scores than small journals, even if the per-article quality is similar.
The calculation uses five years of citation data (compared to JIF’s two years), excludes all journal self-citations, and weights citations by the influence of the citing journal using an iterative algorithm. A citation from Nature contributes more to a journal’s Eigenfactor than a citation from a less-cited journal.
Conceptually, the Eigenfactor answers the question: “If a researcher were randomly following citation links through the scientific literature, what proportion of their time would they spend in this journal?” Journals that are cited by other highly-cited journals are visited more frequently in this simulation.
The Eigenfactor Calculation (Conceptual Overview)
The full calculation involves matrix algebra applied to the entire citation network of Web of Science-indexed journals. The key steps are:
- Build a citation matrix using 5 years of citation data from all Web of Science-indexed journals
- Remove all self-citations from the matrix
- Normalise so that each journal’s citing weight is proportional to the number of articles it published
- Run an iterative calculation similar to PageRank until the values converge
- The resulting proportional influence values are the Eigenfactor Scores
The Eigenfactor Scores across all journals sum to 100 — they represent each journal’s proportional share of total scientific influence. A journal with Eigenfactor Score 1.0 accounts for 1% of total influence in the Web of Science-indexed literature.
Eigenfactor Score vs Article Influence Score
These two metrics are closely related but measure different things
| Feature | Eigenfactor Score | Article Influence Score (AIS) |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Total journal influence (volume) | Per-article influence (normalised) |
| Comparable across journals of different sizes? | No | Yes |
| Analogy | Similar to total revenue | Similar to revenue per customer |
| Average value | Varies widely | Normalised to average = 1.00 |
| Best for | Comparing journals of similar size | Comparing journals of any size |
Article Influence Score = Eigenfactor Score ÷ Fraction of articles the journal published in the full dataset
An AIS of 1.00 means a journal has exactly average influence per article. Above 1.00 is above average; below 1.00 is below average. This makes the AIS more comparable to the JIF in terms of interpretation — both are per-article averages — but the AIS uses prestige-weighted citations and excludes self-citations.
Eigenfactor in the JCR: How to Find It
The Eigenfactor Score and Article Influence Score are both included in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) alongside the standard JIF for every Web of Science-indexed journal. If your institution has JCR access:
- Log in to JCR via your institution’s library
- Search the journal by name or ISSN
- Scroll past the JIF and 5-year IF to find the Eigenfactor Score and Article Influence Score
- The AIS is normalised to a mean of 1.00 — values above 1.00 are above average
Alternatively, search at eigenfactor.org (free) for both metrics across all WoS-indexed journals.
Comparing Journals Using Eigenfactor: Practical Examples
Large vs small journals
Journal A: 2,000 articles per year, Eigenfactor Score 0.15
Journal B: 200 articles per year, Eigenfactor Score 0.020
By Eigenfactor Score, Journal A appears 7.5× more influential. But the Article Influence Score tells the per-article story:
Journal A AIS: 0.15 / (proportion of WoS articles) = 1.2
Journal B AIS: 0.020 / (proportion of WoS articles) = 1.8
Per article, Journal B is actually more influential in the citation network. For submission decisions — which are made at the article level — the AIS is more relevant.
Detecting potential JIF gaming
Journal C has JIF 5.2 but Eigenfactor Score and AIS significantly below field peers with similar JIFs. This pattern often indicates that Journal C’s JIF is partially driven by self-citations (which Eigenfactor excludes) or by citations from a cluster of mutually-citing low-influence journals (which Eigenfactor down-weights). Before submitting, verify Journal C’s self-citation rate in JCR.
Detecting potential JIF gaming
Journal C has JIF 5.2 but Eigenfactor Score and AIS significantly below field peers with similar JIFs. This pattern often indicates that Journal C’s JIF is partially driven by self-citations (which Eigenfactor excludes) or by citations from a cluster of mutually-citing low-influence journals (which Eigenfactor down-weights). Before submitting, verify Journal C’s self-citation rate in JCR.
How Eigenfactor Compares to Impact Factor
| Feature | Eigenfactor Score | Journal Impact Factor |
|---|---|---|
| Citation window | 5 years | 2 years |
| Self-citations | Excluded | Included |
| Citation weighting | Prestige-weighted | Equal weight |
| What it measures | Total journal influence | Average citations per citable article ) |
| Denominator | Not applicable (volume metric) | Citable articles (articles + reviews) |
| Database | Web of Science | Web of Science |
| Access | Free (eigenfactor.org) | JCR subscription |
Why the Eigenfactor Is More Resistant to Gaming
Two features of the Eigenfactor make it significantly harder to game than JIF:
Self-citation exclusion: A journal cannot improve its Eigenfactor by encouraging authors to cite the journal’s own recent articles. The coercive self-citation strategy that can inflate JIF has zero effect on Eigenfactor.
Prestige weighting: A coordinated citation ring among a group of low-influence journals — where each journal cites the others to inflate their IFs — has much less effect on Eigenfactor because those cross-journal citations receive low weight due to the citing journals’ low influence scores. To move the Eigenfactor meaningfully, a journal needs citations from genuinely influential sources.
These features make the Eigenfactor particularly useful for detecting journals whose high JIF may be inflated through gaming rather than genuine scientific influence.
Practical Uses of the Eigenfactor
Evaluating a journal’s true network influence
If a journal has a high JIF but a low Eigenfactor (relative to field peers), investigate why. The discrepancy may indicate high self-citation rates, a mutual citation network among low-influence journals, or a few highly cited review articles inflating the JIF without corresponding network influence.
Comparing journals in slow-citation fields
The 5-year citation window captures more citations for fields where important papers take time to accumulate citations — making Eigenfactor more appropriate than JIF for mathematics, social sciences, and ecology.
Using Article Influence Score for per-article comparison
For comparing the per-article quality of journals of different sizes, the Article Influence Score is more appropriate than the raw Eigenfactor Score. An AIS of 2.0 means a journal’s articles are twice as influential as the average across all WoS-indexed journals.
Where to Find Eigenfactor Scores
eigenfactor.org (free): Search by journal name or ISSN for Eigenfactor Score and Article Influence Score with historical data.
Journal Citation Reports (JCR): Both Eigenfactor Score and Article Influence Score are included in the JCR alongside the standard JIF for all Web of Science-indexed journals (institutional subscription required).
The journal’s own website: Some journals display their Eigenfactor Score alongside their JIF in their metrics section.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Eigenfactor Score?
All WoS-indexed journal Eigenfactor Scores sum to 100. The highest-IF flagship journals (Nature, Science, NEJM) have Eigenfactor Scores around 1.0–2.0. Most journals have values well below 0.1. Compare within your specific subject category rather than using absolute thresholds.
Does Eigenfactor count self-citations?
No — Eigenfactor specifically and explicitly excludes all self-citations from the calculation. This is one of its key methodological advantages over JIF and CiteScore, which both include self-citations.
Where can I find Eigenfactor scores for free?
At eigenfactor.org — search by journal name or ISSN. The same data also appears in JCR for institutions with access.
Is a higher Eigenfactor Score always better?
A higher Eigenfactor Score indicates greater total journal influence, but because it is a volume metric, large journals with many articles will always have higher scores than small journals regardless of per-article quality. For comparing journals of different sizes, use the Article Influence Score instead.
Conclusion
The Eigenfactor Score is a sophisticated, network-based journal metric that measures total journal influence using prestige-weighted citations, excludes self-citations, and uses a 5-year citation window. The Article Influence Score, its per-article normalisation, is directly comparable across journals of different sizes and resistant to the gaming strategies that can inflate simpler metrics. Together, they provide valuable information that JIF alone does not capture — particularly for detecting potential manipulation and evaluating journals in slow-citation fields.
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