1. What is Total Impact Factor?

Total Impact Factor is the sum of impact factors from multiple journals. It provides a cumulative measure of research impact across different publications.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the simple summation formula:

Where:

• \( \text{Journal IF}_i \) — Impact factor of the ith journal
• \( n \) — Number of journals

Explanation: The equation simply sums all individual journal impact factors to get a total impact measure.

3. Importance of Total Impact Factor

Details: Total impact factor can be useful for evaluating the combined impact of multiple publications, especially when comparing research outputs across different authors or institutions.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter journal impact factors separated by commas (e.g., "3.2, 5.1, 2.7"). The calculator will sum all valid numbers in the input.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What is a good total impact factor?
A: This depends on your field and the number of publications. Generally higher is better, but quality of individual publications matters more than the sum.

Q2: Can I compare total IF across different researchers?
A: Only if they have similar numbers of publications. A better comparison would be average IF per paper.

Q3: Where can I find journal impact factors?
A: Journal impact factors are published annually in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) by Clarivate Analytics.

Q4: Are there limitations to using total IF?
A: Yes, it doesn't account for the number of publications or the distribution of citations. Two papers with IF=5 may be better than ten papers with IF=1.

Q5: Should this be used for evaluation purposes?
A: Total IF should be just one of many metrics considered, as it has known limitations and doesn't capture research quality directly.