The 2022 Impact Factor of the AABC

Abstract

Every year, editors of scientific journals await, with greater or lesser anxiety, the publication of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Among the various metrics that accompany this annual publication by Clarivate (2023), is the Impact Factor (IF) which, despite several and constant criticisms, is still very popular in the scientific publication industry, particularly for the decision-making process of where authors submit their articles (e.g., Ali 2021).The Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (AABC) is also required to observe IF index very carefully (e.g., Kellner 2021). As the sole broad multidisciplinary journal published in Brazil (Kellner 2022), there is a great variety in the themes and areas that are covered. This fact seems to be a potential problem for the AABC and other broad multidisciplinary journals.As has been known for some time, different areas have different citation potential (e.g., Rieder et al. 2010). The AABC receives articles of large research areas that can potentially result in higher citations, such as studies related to cancer (Health Sciences, e.g., Nery et al. 2022). By the way, a specialized journal in this field has received the highest IF in 2022 (CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians -IF 254.7). But, at the same time, the AABC also publishes studies in scientific areas where the citation potential is traditionally much lower (Mathematical Sciences, e.g., Bouali et al. 2021).The nature of this mixture, which is a necessity for a journal edited by a scientific society as broad as the countries' scientific academies, can potentially have a negative effect on the IF. Important and prestigious journals from some academic societies such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) have overcome potential problems regarding the need to publish results from different areas by obtaining considerable prestige in the most active and competitive scientific arenas around the world. Therefore, PNAS not only receives articles with greater impact potential in all areas, but the journal is also more consulted -a great value in these days when there seems to be an infinite number of journals and where time has become a very valuable asset. It is not surprising that a respectable position achieved by a journal increases the chances of its articles being more cited, resulting in positive feedback regarding its IF.The history of AABC's IF has its complexities. Having faced some difficulties regarding very long publication times, in 2002 the magazine received its first IF regarding the online version of this periodical (available in this medium since 2000), which was less than 0.5 (Table I). Over the years, IF values have increased, with some fluctuations, up to a maximum of 1.811 last year (JCR 2021). This was achieved without a significant contribution from self-citations, which are considered one of the