International Security Ranks First in the 2014 Impact Factor Rankings

International Security, the quarterly journal edited at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and published by The MIT Press, ranked first for Impact Factor in 2014 among eighty-five journals of international relations ranked in the Journal Citation Reports® released this month by Thomson Reuters. Other leading journals in this global category of rankings include the Journal of Peace Research, International Organization, World Politics, and Foreign Affairs.

The Impact Factor is a widely-cited indicator of the significance of the articles published in a journal. Journal Citation Reports® calculates the Impact Factor for many journals in various fields. In a given year, the Impact Factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per article published in that journal during the two preceding years. Thus the 2014 Impact Factor is the average number of citations per article in 2014 of articles published in 2012 and 2013.

International Security's 2014 Impact Factor is 3.868, an increase of approximately 30 percent over its 2013 Impact Factor of 2.975. The journal's 2014 Impact Factor is the highest of any international relations journal since 2000.

"I am delighted that International Security articles are being cited so often and that the journal ranks first for Impact Factor," Editor Sean Lynn-Jones said. "We try to select articles that will contribute to the debate on important scholarly and policy issues. The high Impact Factor ranking indicates that academic authors and policy analysts recognize the relevance and importance of International Security articles."

International Security has an unmatched long-term record in the Impact Factor rankings. In addition to its first-place ranking in 2014, the journal ranked second in 2012 and 2013. Since 1996, International Security has had the following Impact Factor rankings:

1st in 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (tied with International Organization), 2009, 2014
2nd in 2002, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013
3rd in 1998
4th in 2000, 2003, 2011
5th in 1999

• International Security has ranked 1st nine times (including one tie), 2nd five times, 3rd once, 4th three times, and 5th once since 1996.
• International Security has ranked 1st (six times) or 2nd (four times) in ten of the past eleven years (since 2004).
• International Security has ranked in the top five every year since 1996.

International Security offers a combination of professional and policy-relevant articles that strives to contribute to the analysis of contemporary, historical, and theoretical questions in security studies. Topics in recent issues have included nuclear proliferation, U.S.-China relations, the security risks of U.S. alliances, and cybersecurity.

More information about International Security is available at: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/project/58/quarterly_journal.html