# 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.

## Key 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).

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1904.05320