The impact factors 2026 release moved upward for most journals in the comparable sample. Of 19,208 titles with exact values in both releases, 11,842 (61.7%) increased, 4,884 (25.4%) decreased, and 2,482 (12.9%) were unchanged.
The median rose from 1.8 to 1.9, while the arithmetic mean rose from 2.65 to 2.96. That gap matters: a small number of exceptional values pull the mean upward, so the median is the clearer description of the typical journal.
Comparable journals
19,208
Exact values in both releases
Moved upward
61.7%
11,842 journals
Median impact factor
1.8 → 1.9
Typical change +0.2
Arithmetic mean
2.65 → 2.96
Sensitive to high outliers
What “impact factors 2026” means here
Readers commonly use “impact factors 2026” for the values published in the 2026 JCR edition. Formally, those are 2025 Journal Impact Factors because they use 2025 citation data. Throughout this analysis, the newest impact factor, released June 17, 2026 and based on 2025 citation data, is compared with the prior exact value. That previous value comes from the JCR 2025 edition and carries metric year 2024. The charts compare those two consecutive releases—not two different calculations from 2026.
Impact factors 2026: did most journals rise?
Yes. More than three in five comparable journals increased, while about one in four declined. The result describes the direction of the release as a whole; it does not mean every field moved equally.
| Direction | Journals | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Increased | 11,842 | 61.7% |
| Decreased | 4,884 | 25.4% |
| Unchanged | 2,482 | 12.9% |
The average rose, but the typical change was modest
The median journal gained +0.2 points. That is a more restrained story than the mean increase of +0.3. Impact factors form a strongly right-skewed distribution: most titles sit in the lower single digits, while a few exceptional journals reach far higher values.
View distribution data
| Change | Journals | Share |
|---|---|---|
| ≤ −2.0 | 137 | 0.7% |
| −1.9 to −1.0 | 279 | 1.5% |
| −0.9 to −0.5 | 818 | 4.3% |
| −0.4 to −0.1 | 3,650 | 19.0% |
| 0 | 2,482 | 12.9% |
| +0.1 to +0.4 | 6,768 | 35.2% |
| +0.5 to +0.9 | 3,045 | 15.9% |
| +1.0 to +1.9 | 1,430 | 7.4% |
| ≥ +2.0 | 599 | 3.1% |
How the highest-impact journals changed
Ranking by the newest exact value puts one journal far outside the rest of the distribution. We show it separately so the common axis remains readable. The chart then displays the next eleven highest values, including both increases and declines.
Highest current value · shown separately
Previous 232.4 → newest 685.2
+452.8
+194.8%
| Journal | Previous | Newest | Change | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY | 90.2 | 118.0 | +27.8 | 30.8% |
| LANCET | 88.5 | 109.0 | +20.5 | 23.2% |
| NATURE REVIEWS MICROBIOLOGY | 103.3 | 104.6 | +1.3 | 1.3% |
| MMWR Surveillance Summaries | 49.8 | 96.9 | +47.1 | 94.6% |
| Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology | 82.2 | 94.6 | +12.4 | 15.1% |
| NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY | 101.8 | 91.2 | −10.6 | -10.4% |
| NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE | 78.5 | 84.5 | +6.0 | 7.6% |
| Nature Reviews Materials | 86.2 | 83.3 | −2.9 | -3.4% |
| Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy | 52.7 | 81.2 | +28.5 | 54.1% |
| ANNALS OF ONCOLOGY | 65.4 | 80.4 | +15.0 | 22.9% |
| Nature Reviews Disease Primers | 60.6 | 79.8 | +19.2 | 31.7% |
The largest increases and decreases
These lists rank absolute point change, not percentage change. That choice prevents a tiny starting value from turning a small point gain into a sensational percentage headline. The largest gain and decline are again separated so readers can see the remaining journals clearly.
Largest point increase
Previous 232.4 → newest 685.2
+452.8
+194.8%
Largest point decrease
Previous 89.6 → newest 8.3
−81.3
−90.7%
| Journal | Previous | Newest | Change | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMWR Surveillance Summaries | 49.8 | 96.9 | +47.1 | 94.6% |
| Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy | 52.7 | 81.2 | +28.5 | 54.1% |
| NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY | 90.2 | 118.0 | +27.8 | 30.8% |
| Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior | 31.1 | 55.9 | +24.8 | 79.7% |
| International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education | 16.7 | 38.7 | +22.0 | 131.7% |
| LANCET | 88.5 | 109.0 | +20.5 | 23.2% |
| Nature Reviews Disease Primers | 60.6 | 79.8 | +19.2 | 31.7% |
| Journal | Previous | Newest | Change | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews-Computational Molecular Science | 27.0 | 10.9 | −16.1 | -59.6% |
| NATURE REVIEWS IMMUNOLOGY | 60.9 | 47.1 | −13.8 | -22.7% |
| Qualitative Psychology | 14.3 | 2.5 | −11.8 | -82.5% |
| NEW ASTRONOMY REVIEWS | 26.8 | 15.2 | −11.6 | -43.3% |
| NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY | 101.8 | 91.2 | −10.6 | -10.4% |
| ENDOCRINE PATHOLOGY | 14.7 | 4.6 | −10.1 | -68.7% |
| Computational Visual Media | 18.3 | 8.3 | −10.0 | -54.6% |
Two widely searched journals
PLOS ONE and Scientific Reports illustrate two different sizes of upward movement near the center of the distribution. Their values come from the same canonical comparison as every chart above.
What these changes do—and do not—mean
A higher impact factor says that citations to a journal's recent content increased relative to its citable output. It does not tell you why that happened, whether your manuscript belongs there, or how often your eventual article will be cited.
- Compare journals within the same subject category before comparing raw values across fields.
- Use the field-normalized Journal Citation Indicator when you need cross-field context.
- Check current quartile, scope, readership, indexing, fees, and author instructions.
- Inspect several years of values before treating one annual movement as a trend.
- Choose for audience and manuscript fit first; use impact factor as supporting evidence.
Methodology and limitations
Source and inclusion
We analyzed the canonical Journal Metrics artifact for the release dated June 17, 2026. A journal enters the comparison only when it has exact numeric values for metric years 2025 and 2024.
Exclusions
We excluded threshold values such as <0.1, unavailable values, new journals without a prior exact value, and archived records. We never converted those labels into invented numbers.
Calculations
Absolute change is newest minus previous. Percentage change is absolute change divided by the previous value. The mean is the arithmetic average; the median is the middle observation after sorting.
Interpretive limits
This is a descriptive two-release comparison across disciplines. It cannot identify causes, replace field-normalized analysis, or predict the influence of an individual paper.
Further reading
Which journals received a first recorded JIF?
Analyze 2,454 journals with no earlier impact factor in the retained history.
How to use the JCR 2026 release
Release naming, calculation context, suppression, and journal-selection workflow.
Understanding JCR quartiles
Why Q1 through Q4 provide field context that raw impact factor cannot.
How impact factors are calculated
A step-by-step explanation of the numerator, denominator, and citation window.
How to choose the right journal
Combine scope, audience, indexing, timelines, policies, and metrics.
Written by Dr. Meng Zhao
Physician-Scientist · Founder, LabCat AI
MD · Former Neurosurgeon · Medical AI Researcher
Dr. Meng Zhao is a former neurosurgeon turned medical-AI researcher. After years in the operating room, he moved into applied AI for clinical workflows and now leads LabCat AI, a medical-AI company working on decision support and research tooling for clinicians. He built Journal Metrics as a free resource for researchers who need reliable journal metrics without paid database subscriptions.
Related Articles
2,454 Journals Received Their First Impact Factor in 2026
Analyze journals with a first recorded impact factor in the JCR 2026 data, including the average and median, research fields, quartiles, distribution, and highest opening values.
14 min readJournal Metrics Analysis7 Neurosurgery Journals With a First Impact Factor in 2026
Compare seven neurosurgery journals with a first recorded JIF in 2026, including their opening impact factors, quartiles, categories, and linked journal profiles.
8 min readJournal Metrics Analysis10 Ophthalmology Journals With a First Impact Factor in 2026
Explore ten ophthalmology journals with a first recorded JIF in 2026, led by Frontiers in Ophthalmology, with averages, quartiles, and journal links.
8 min read