In the scientific field, various metrics and indicators are used to assess the prestige and quality of a journal, as well as the scientific authority of a researcher. Today, we will focus on two of these indicators: quartiles and percentiles.
What is a quartile?
A quartile is a scientometrics indicator that reflects the level of influence of a journal within a database. In addition to influence, a quartile demonstrates the popularity of a publication among journals in a specific indexing category. This indicator allows journals to be classified into four groups depending on their bibliometric characteristics and is denoted by the letter “Q”.
Journal groups by quartile
- Q1 – this group includes the most prestigious and influential journals. Articles for publication undergo rigorous peer review, and the acceptance process can be lengthy. Authors usually pay significant publication fees.
- Q2 – Journals in this category are rated lower than Q1, but remain authoritative and are highly regarded by the international scientific community.
- Q3 – Q3 quartile publications are popular among young researchers or those publishing their first scientific works. Publications in such journals are recognised and taken into account for most academic purposes in many countries.
- Q4 – this group includes new journals that have recently been included in scientometrics databases, or publications whose authority has declined. Such journals do not yet have a significant influence in the scientific community.
What is a percentile?
A percentile is an indicator that reflects a journal's ranking within its subject area. It has a numerical value from 1 to 99 (the value 100 is not used). For example, if a journal's percentile is 99, it means that the publication is in the top 1% in its field.
How are journals divided by percentile?
- 99-75 percentile: the journal is among the top 25% of the most authoritative journals in its field
- 74-50 percentile: the journal is among the 26-50% of the most authoritative journals in its field
- 49-25 percentile: the journal is among the 51-75% most authoritative journals in its field
- 24-1 percentile: the journal is among the 76-100% most authoritative journals in its field
Can one journal have several quartile or percentile indicators?
There are certain “paradoxes” in scientometrics that have their explanations. One journal can indeed belong to different categories and, accordingly, have different scientometrics indicators for each of them.
This is possible due to the multidisciplinary nature of the publication and the peculiarities of indexing in databases. For example, if a journal is indexed in Scopus and publishes articles in different fields, it may have a Q3 quartile in one discipline and a Q1 quartile in another. Accordingly, percentiles may also differ depending on the category.
A similar situation can be observed in Web of Science. At the same time, it is common practice to evaluate a journal based on the highest quartile or percentile among all its indexing categories.
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