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The ISI Web of Knowledge recently published the 2006 Journal Citation Reports. Here is my analysis of the current status and trends for the impact factor in computer science journals.

Let me start with an overview of the method I followed. I performed my analysis on the 365 journals appearing under the computer science subject categories: artificial intelligence; cybernetics; hardware & architecture; information systems; interdisciplinary applications; software engineering; theory & methods. Note that journals may appear in many categories. In particular, there are many overlaps between the above categories and "electrical and electronic engineering" and "operations research and management science".

Don't take this report too seriously. The impact factor is notoriously prone to misuse; let's not make the situation worse. Also note that in computer science there are tens of prestigious conferences whose impact factor is higher than that of most journals.

Journals with the Highest IF

Rank	Name	ISSN	IF
1	INT J COMPUT VISION	0920-5691	6.085
2	ACM T INFORM SYST	1046-8188	5.059
3	BIOINFORMATICS	1367-4803	4.894
4	MIS QUART	0276-7783	4.731
5	IEEE T PATTERN ANAL	0162-8828	4.306
6	ACM COMPUT SURV	0360-0300	4.130
7	ACM T GRAPHIC	0730-0301	4.081
8	J AM MED INFORM ASSN	1067-5027	3.979
9	IEEE T EVOLUT COMPUT	1089-778X	3.770
10	IEEE T MED IMAGING	0278-0062	3.757

Note here the high impact factor journals touching on life-sciences. This is more an indication of impact factor variations between various fields than an inherent quality property of these journals that distinguishes then from other computer science publications.

Journals Added to the JCR in 2006

ADAPT BEHAV
APPL SOFT COMPUT
FORM ASP COMPUT
IEEE ACM T COMPUT BI
IEEE SECUR PRIV
IEEE T IND INFORM
INT J DISTRIB SENS N
INT J FOUND COMPUT S
INT J INF TECH DECIS
INT J INNOV COMPUT I
INT J QUANTUM INF
J COMPUT ANAL APPL
J COMPUT INF SCI ENG
J DATABASE MANAGE
J HYDROINFORM
J MULT-VALUED LOG S
KNOWL INF SYST
MATH STRUCT COMP SCI
REQUIR ENG

Notable here is the addition of IEEE Security & Privacy. Together with the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing and the Computers and Security (whose impact factor grew from an abysmal 0.085 in 2002, to 0.743 in 2005, and 1.075 in 2006) this marks an increased focus on security.

Journals Dropped from the JCR in 2006

IND MANAGE DATA SYST
J VISUAL COMP ANIMAT
LECT NOTES ARTIF INT
LECT NOTES COMPUT SC
LECT NOTES CONTR INF
P ASIST ANNU MEET

Notable here is the removal of Springer's Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series and its cohorts. The LNCS series publishes mostly conference proceedings. Although its impact factor in 2005 was a respectable 0.4, I can assume that ISI dropped the series from the JCR, because LNCS doesn't have a consistent review policy or a permanent editorial board that vets each paper. I've seen people variously listing in their CV their LNCS papers as book chapters, journal articles, or conference papers. I feel that the right thing to do is to list them as conference papers, and this JCR change strengthens my view.

Journals with the Highest Increase in IF

Name	ISSN	Δ IF
INT J COMPUT VISION	0920-5691	2.428
MATCH-COMMUN MATH CO	0340-6253	1.172
ADV ENG INFORM	1474-0346	1.076
COMPUT INTELL	0824-7935	0.883
INFORM SYST	0306-4379	0.86
J ACM	0004-5411	0.72
METHOD INFORM MED	0026-1270	0.714
CHEMOMETR INTELL LAB	0169-7439	0.68
ENVIRON MODELL SOFTW	1364-8152	0.641
COMPUT MUSIC J	0148-9267	0.639

Journals with the Highest Decrease in IF

Name	ISSN	Δ IF
ACM COMPUT SURV	0360-0300	-3.27
HUM-COMPUT INTERACT	0737-0024	-2.291
J MACH LEARN RES	1532-4435	-1.772
QUANTUM INFORM COMPU	1533-7146	-1.479
ACM T SOFTW ENG METH	1049-331X	-1.364
ANNU REV INFORM SCI	0066-4200	-1.267
KNOWL ENG REV	0269-8889	-1.249
J LOGIC ALGEBR PROGR	1567-8326	-1.145
BIOINFORMATICS	1367-4803	-1.125
NETWORK-COMP NEURAL	0954-898X	-1.055

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