From 2025 (2024 data), citations to and from retracted articles will no longer contribute towards the Journal Impact Factor.
(15 May 2025) From Clarivate:
“Citations to and from retracted content need to be treated with caution. Currently, retracted articles represent only a tiny fraction of the scholarly record; in the Web of Science Core Collection, retracted content represents just 0.04% of indexed content. However, it is worth noting that from first investigation by the publisher, to sign off from multiple authors and their institutions, and sometimes even legal challenges, retractions typically take years rather than months.
This combination of low volumes and long lead times for retractions means that citations to and from retracted articles represent a tiny contribution to JIF calculations. Overall, of the 4.6+ million citations that contributed to the JIF across ~ 22,000 journals in the 2024 JCR release, only ~20,000 were to or from content that had been retracted at that time (~0.4%). (See here for more information on how the JIF is calculated).
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of retractions and we have also noted signs of a reduction in the time it takes to retract indexed articles. Given these trends, we have decided to introduce a new policy to pre-emptively guard against any such time that citations to and from retracted content could contribute to widespread distortions in the JIF.
Starting from this year’s JCR release, we will exclude citations to and from retracted content when calculating the JIF numerator, ensuring that citations from retracted articles do not contribute to the numerical value of the JIF. However, retracted articles will still be included in the article count (JIF denominator), maintaining transparency and accountability.”
Find out more here.
