Distribution of scientific journals impact factor

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the distribution of impact factors for over 9,000 scientific journals, finding it stable over several years and resembling an exponential distribution with a power-law tail.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis showing the impact factor distribution follows an exponential Boltzmann form with a power-law tail, consistent over multiple years.

Findings

Distribution is stable across 2011-2013

Impact factor distribution follows exponential Boltzmann distribution

Presence of a power-law tail in the distribution

Abstract

We consider distributions of scientific journals impact factor. Analysing 9028 scientific journals with the largest impact factors, we found that the distribution of them is year-to-year stable (at least for analysed 2011-2013 years), and it has the character of the exponential Boltzmann distribution with the power law asymptotic (tail).