Immediacy Index

The Immediacy Index of a journal is equal to the average number of times that an article in the journal is cited in the year in which it is published. Hence it provides an indication of how quickly articles in a particular journal are cited.

The Immediacy Index is calculated by dividing the number of citations to articles published in the journal in a given year by the total number of articles published in that same year. As it is a per-article average, the Immediacy Index tends to discount the advantage of large journals over small ones. However, frequently issued journals may have an advantage because articles published early in a year have a better chance of being cited than ones published later in a year. Many journals that publish infrequently or late in the year therefore have a low Immediacy Index.

Note that the Immediacy Index is calculated using data from the Web of Science database. For comparing journals specializing in cutting-edge research, this metric can provide a useful perspective.