Refining dermatology journal impact factors using PageRank

Background Thomson Institute for Scientific Information's journal impact factor, the most common measure of journal status, is based on crude citation counts that do not account for the quality of the journals where the citations originate. This study examines how accounting for citation origin affects the impact factor ranking of dermatology journals. Methods The 2003 impact factors of dermatology journals were adjusted by a weighted PageRank algorithm that assigned greater weight to citations originating in more frequently cited journals. Results Adjusting for citation origin moved the rank of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology higher than that of the Archives of Dermatology (third to second) but did not affect the ranking of the highest impact dermatology journal, the Journal of Investigative Dermatology . The dermatology journals most positively affected by adjusting for citation origin were Contact Dermatitis (moving from 22nd to 7th in rankings) and Burns (21st to 10th). Dermatology journals most negatively affected were Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery (5th to 14th), the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery (19th to 27th), and the Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings (26th to 34th). Limitations Current measures of dermatology journal status do not incorporate survey data from dermatologists regarding which journals dermatologists esteem most. Conclusion Adjusting for citation origin provides a more refined measure of journal status and changes relative dermatology journal rankings.