Clarivate releases Journal Citation Reports 2026
Clarivate has released the 2026 edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), providing journal-level metrics and insights across more than 22,000 scholarly publications worldwide.
Now in its sixth decade, the JCR continues to offer what Clarivate describes as a publisher-neutral framework for assessing journal influence across the global research landscape. The latest edition includes metrics for 22,643 journals spanning 254 categories. According to Clarivate, the 2026 release builds on a series of recent enhancements intended to improve the consistency, transparency and inclusivity of journal-level evaluation.
Clarivate said the latest report reflects ongoing changes in the scholarly publishing ecosystem, particularly the increasing geographic diversity of research output and authorship.
Bar Veinstein, President, Academia & Government at Clarivate, said: “As scholarly publishing continues to evolve, we remain focused on helping publishers, librarians and researchers make informed decisions with confidence. The Journal Citation Reports 2026 reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting the research community with trusted, transparent and context-rich journal intelligence.
“Our publisher-neutral approach, ongoing refinements and focus on research integrity means that JCR continues to serve as a gold-standard benchmark for the global scholarly community, over fifty years after its first publication.”
The 2026 JCR, which reflects 2025 data, points to continued diversification in global research activity.
A total of 521 journals received a Journal Impact Factor for the first time, representing 47 countries and regions. More than half (58%) of these newly indexed journals are based outside the United States and Western Europe. The report also shows that Mainland China and the United States remain the most represented countries and regions by author affiliation, together accounting for 48% of affiliations recorded.
Meanwhile, representation from the Global South continues to increase. Clarivate reports that the largest increases in author representation between 2023 and 2025 came from Mainland China (23%) and India (12%). Overall, author affiliations from the Global South increased by 6% compared with 2024 and by 10% compared with 2023.
Clarivate said these findings demonstrate the continued globalisation of research and the broadening geographic distribution of scholarly contributions.
Alongside the Journal Impact Factor, the JCR includes a range of complementary indicators designed to provide additional context for journal evaluation.
These include field-normalised metrics such as the Journal Citation Indicator (JCI), descriptive journal data and category-level benchmarks. Clarivate emphasised that the journal-level indicators within the JCR are intended to support journal assessment rather than evaluate the performance of individual researchers or articles.