Comparing Journal Impact Factor and H-type Indices in Virology Journals

This paper examines the relationships between the journal impact factor and the h-type indices in virology journals. The virology journals and their 2010 journal impact factors were retrieved from Journal Citation Reports. The h-index and the g-index values of the journals for 2007-2011 were obtained from Web of Science and Google Scholar. The journals were ranked by their journal impact factor and h-indices. The correlation analysis of the measures found a strong relationship between the journal impact factor and the h-type indices, and a stronger tie between the h-indices themselves. Despite the strong correlations between the measures, differences in rankings of the journals with the journal impact factor and the h-type indices were found, and possible explanations for the differences were provided