Journal citation metrics are commonly used to benchmark the performance of a journal and are used to measure how much the academic community engages with a published piece of research. But most journal-level citation metrics are difficult to deconstruct to article-level, reliably. The Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) is different. Because it’s field-normalized, it accounts for differences in research and citation behavior across disciplines. And it controls for article age, removing bias toward older articles, and between more or less frequently cited document types.

Learn more in this guide for editors or watch the video at the bottom of the page.

What is it?

A ratio between the number of citations a paper (or set of papers) has received, and the number of citations it may expect to receive, based upon the average number of citations per paper in the same subject category, article type, and publication year. The global average FWCI is 1, therefore a value above 1 means a paper has been cited more than would be expected based on the average for similar papers. Recent articles may show greater variance from the norm but will likely normalize as the FWCI is updated over time.

What problems does it solve?

The benefit of FWCI is that it is field-normalized. That means it accounts for differences in research and citation behavior across disciplines. It also controls for article age, removing bias toward older articles and between more or less frequently cited document types.

When would you use it?

FWCI can be used as an alternative to total citations to assess the relative merit of articles in your journal, on a fair footing given the expected difference in citations rate between different types of articles. It can also be rolled up to journal level and used as a basis for comparison between journals, in complement to the impact factor, while controlling for expected differences due to content types.

Where can I find it?

FWCI can help give you a more meaningful picture of the impact your journal has in your field. And it’s available at your fingertips in Wiley Journal Insights, where editors and society executives can view and report upon FWCI trends by journal and article. Find it under the ‘Bibliometrics’ tab in Wiley Journal Insights. Only publications included in the Web of Science have FWCI.

How can I benchmark my journal’s performance?

There are two ways to do this in WJI. The FWCI Trend chart shows how the citations your journal has received compared to the average or expected number of citations that articles in the same subject, year, and article type category have received. In addition, the Subject Category Rankings table provides data from the JCR on your journal's position in its subject category, based upon the 2-year impact factor score.

We cover the FWCI – what it is and how to interpret it – in this short video.