Summary of observed scenarios / variants of changing Impact Factor (IF).

<p>(A) IF increases (left bars) and decreases (right bars) for each annual step 2010–11 to 2013–14. IF increases are further classified as valid or invalid according to the classification in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0154199#pone.0154199.g003" target="_blank">Fig 3</a>. (B) The observed IF changes (n = 179) over the four annual steps are classified according to the scenarios explained in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0154199#pone.0154199.g003" target="_blank">Fig 3</a> and illustrated for their relative frequency. Invalid IF changes (a3 and a4) are highlighted by red boxes. (C) Overall distribution of journals regarding to the validity of their IF changes. (D) Longitudinal development of each journal in the sample cohort. IF increases, IF decreases and invalid IF increases are indicated by green / red color or red boxes, respectively.