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Journals

What are Journal Impact Factors?

The journal impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year. It is calculated by dividing the number of current citations to articles published in the two previous years by the total number of articles published in the two previous years. The impact factor will help you evaluate a journal’s relative importance, especially when you compare it to others in the same field.

To request a journal impact factor report through Journal Citation Reports ® and ISI Web of Knowledge, contact us. 

What do I do when asked for a password?

A priority of the NIH Library is to provide seamless access (by IP recognition) to all electronic resources. However, because some publishers are not yet offering the access through IP recognition we do have to accept password dependent access. When a password is needed for an NIH user (NIH staff) it appears in the "Notes" column of the table display for online journals.

Non-NIH users will not see information in that column as publisher licenses restrict us to offering electronic resources to NIH staff only.

If you still need help, either call the NIH Library Information Desk at 301-496-1080 or submit a question via the Ask a Question form. Library staff will reply to comments within 24-48 hours.

What is the normal turnaround time after submitting an intrelibrary loan request?

Resource Type Delivery
Print books and journals (chapters/articles) at the NIH Library 1–2 business days
Print books and journals (chapters/articles) at the National Library of Medicine 3 business days
Items not owned by the NIH Library or the National Library of Medicine Generally within 1-2 weeks. Certain materials may take longer or are not available for loan including :
  • Video and audio recordings
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Materials held in reference collections (e.g. dictionaries, encyclopedias etc.)
  • Books published in the past year
  • Textbooks and books used for college courses
  • Conference papers that have not been published
  • Materials located in rare books libraries
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