| Journal | Impact Factor (Clarivate) | CiteScore (Scopus) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | South African Medical Journal | ~1.8 | ~2.4 | | African Journal of Health Professions Education | None | ~0.6 | | East African Medical Journal | None (historical) | ~0.5 | | Pan African Medical Journal | | ~1.7 | | Malawi Medical Journal | ~1.2 | ~1.5 |
Clarivate’s Impact Factor is calculated based on the number of citations in a given year to articles published in the journal during the two preceding years, divided by the total number of citable articles published in those two years. To receive an IF, a journal must be consistently indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) or Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) for several years. PAMJ, while indexed in numerous databases (including PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and DOAJ), has not yet met Clarivate’s specific criteria for inclusion in JCR. It is crucial to distinguish between being indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) and having an Impact Factor . As of late 2024, PAMJ is not listed in the Web of Science Core Collection. WoS has a highly selective evaluation process that considers timeliness, citation activity, editorial rigor, and international diversity. While PAMJ has applied for inclusion in the past, it remains outside this exclusive club. pan african medical journal impact factor
By that measure, PAMJ is remarkably successful. It has published over 10,000 articles since 2008, provided a voice for thousands of African researchers who would otherwise be excluded from global discourse, and created a sustainable, open-access model that prioritizes African needs over Northern metrics. Its Scopus CiteScore of ~1.7 and absence from Clarivate’s JCR do not diminish its value; they simply place it outside a flawed, exclusive system. | Journal | Impact Factor (Clarivate) | CiteScore
Introduction In the ecosystem of global academic publishing, the Impact Factor (IF) remains the most controversial yet influential metric of journal prestige. For researchers across Africa—from Cape Town to Cairo—publishing in a "high-impact" journal is often a prerequisite for promotion, grant funding, and institutional recognition. Within this landscape stands the Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ) , a fully open-access, peer-reviewed publication dedicated to African health research. A recurring question among early-career African researchers, librarians, and policymakers is: What is the Pan African Medical Journal’s impact factor? It is crucial to distinguish between being indexed
PAMJ’s mission is explicitly Pan-Africanist: to promote the publication of original research, case studies, and reviews that address the unique disease burdens, health systems challenges, and epidemiological transitions occurring in Africa. The journal operates on a diamond open-access model (no fees for authors or readers for many years, though it later introduced modest APCs) and publishes continuously online. To date, the Pan African Medical Journal has not been assigned an Impact Factor by Clarivate Analytics .