2,454 Journals Received Their First Impact Factor in 2026

What does the recent-launch cohort mean?

The Journal Metrics Score is a two-year citation average: citations received in the most recent complete year to works published in the two prior years. A journal therefore cannot have a meaningful score until it has at least two years of publication history. Because Journal Metrics does not retain score history, this page cannot identify a journal's first scored release. Instead, it uses a transparent recent-launch cohort: journals whose lifetime OpenAlex first publication year is 2023 or later and whose current score is computable. That rule does not prove when a journal first received a score.

This is a different cohort from the one in this article's original headline. In June 2026, Clarivate's JCR release listed 2,454 journals with a first Journal Impact Factor, and we analyzed that list at the time. Journal Metrics no longer carries JCR data, so that analysis cannot be reproduced here; the first-JIF figure survives only as editorial context. A first recorded score also does not necessarily mean a journal is “new” in every sense — searches for new journals 2026 often mix newly launched, newly indexed, and first-scored titles, which are three different concepts.

What does a typical current score look like?

More than half of the cohort scores below 1.0. The middle half runs from 0.5 to 4.1, while the 90th percentile is 7.6. Only 7 journals score 10.0 or higher.

Which quartiles do these journals enter?

Quartiles rank journals within each OpenAlex subfield by score, and each journal carries the best quartile it reaches in any of its subfields. Newly scored journals split into two broad camps: titles that enter near the bottom of their subfields, and a substantial group of well-backed launches that debut in Q1 or Q2.

For a fuller explanation of quartile labels, see our guide to journal quartiles.

Which research fields contain the most recent-launch journals?

The cohort spans 161 OpenAlex subfields. Because one journal can belong to several subfields, these are subfield assignments rather than mutually exclusive journal totals. The cohort produced 616 assignments, so subfield counts should not be added together as if they represented different journals.

Explore Journal Metrics Scores by field

Which journals have the highest scores in this cohort?

The top of the list is not representative of the typical journal. The maximum is 18.2, compared with a median of 1.6. Publisher-backed launch titles in engineering, materials, and the life sciences are prominent among the highest scores — though an extreme value in a young journal usually reflects a very small publication denominator, and one current value cannot establish long-term stability.

What this means for authors

You can inspect current scores and subfield context in our journal rankings, then use the journal selection guide to evaluate fit beyond the metric.

Methodology and limitations

Further reading