International Security Ranks First for Impact Factor among International Relations Journals in 2009

International Security, the quarterly journal edited at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and published by The MIT Press, ranked first for Impact Factor among international relations journals in 2009. The closely watched rankings, calculated annually in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports®, measure average citations per article, demonstrating the journal's relevance in its field.

International Security's Impact Factor of 3.243 was the highest it has been since 2001.

International Security has ranked number one in four of the past six years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009). In the other two years, International Security tied with International Organization for first (2007) and ranked second (2008).

Since 1996, International Security has ranked first seven times and tied for first (with International Organization) once.

The journal also has ranked second twice and has been in the top five every year since 1996.

International Security also ranked number one for five-year Impact Factor in 2009.

"I am thrilled that International Security articles continue to be cited so frequently and that many scholars and policy analysts regard the journal as a leader in its field," Editor Sean Lynn-Jones said. "This is a real testament to the relevance of the journal and its ability to contribute to discussion of critical conceptual and public policy issues."

ISI/Journal Citation Reports®, published by Thomson Reuters, calculates the Impact Factor for many journals in various fields.

The 2009 Impact Factor was calculated by adding the number of citations in 2009 of articles published in 2008 and 2007 and dividing that number by the total number of articles published in 2008 and 2007. The five-year Impact Factor is based on a similar calculation for 2009 citations of articles published between 2004 and 2008.

International Security offers a combination of professional and policy-relevant articles that strives to contribute to the analysis of particular security problems. Topics in the most recent issue included ending civil wars, Chinese and Russian responses to U.S. primacy, and biosecurity.

More information about International Security is available at:

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/project/58/quarterly_journal.html