What Is the Impact Factor of Accounts of Chemical Research? (2025)

The 2023 Journal Impact Factor for Accounts of Chemical Research is 16.4. This figure comes from the 2024 edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) published by Clarivate. The impact factor measures the average number of citations received in a given year by articles published in the journal during the two preceding years.

How the Impact Factor Is Calculated

For the 2023 impact factor, Clarivate counted citations received in 2023 to articles published in 2021 and 2022. That total was divided by the number of “citable items” (research articles, reviews, and proceedings papers) published in those same two years.

A simple example: if a journal published 100 citable articles in 2021 and 2022 combined, and those articles received 1,600 citations in 2023, the impact factor would be 16.0 (1,600 ÷ 100). The actual calculation for Accounts of Chemical Research runs across thousands of citations and hundreds of articles, but the principle is identical.

The metric is a snapshot of recent citation activity. It does not measure long-term influence or individual article quality. A single highly cited paper can raise a journal’s impact factor, while a journal with many useful but less-cited papers may have a lower number.

What the Number Means

Accounts of Chemical Research was established in 1968 and is published by the American Chemical Society Wikipedia. It publishes concise overviews of basic research and applications in chemistry and biochemistry. The editor-in-chief is Cynthia J. Burrows of the University of Utah.

An impact factor of 16.4 places the journal in the top tier of chemistry publications. The median impact factor for journals in the “Chemistry, Multidisciplinary” JCR category is typically between 2 and 4. A score above 10 indicates a highly selective and influential journal. The number means that, on average, articles from 2021 and 2022 were cited more than 16 times each in 2023.

For comparison, other well-known chemistry journals sit in a similar range. Chemical Reviews typically has an impact factor above 50. Nature Chemistry often scores in the mid-20s. Journal of the American Chemical Society usually has an impact factor around 15. Accounts of Chemical Research sits slightly higher than JACS but lower than the top review journals. This reflects its role: it publishes review-style “accounts” of research, which tend to be cited more frequently than individual research articles but less frequently than comprehensive review journals.

Limitations of the Impact Factor

The impact factor is a journal-level metric, not an article-level one. A paper in a high-impact-factor journal is not guaranteed to be highly cited. Citation distributions are often skewed: a small number of articles receive most citations, while many receive few or none.

The metric does not measure individual article quality, rigor, or reproducibility. Citation rates vary dramatically between fields. A high impact factor in mathematics (often 2-3) is not comparable to one in cell biology (often 10-30). The two-year window can disadvantage fields where research takes longer to accumulate citations. Some journals have used editorial practices that inflate their impact factor, such as publishing many review articles or encouraging self-citation.

Other metrics provide a fuller picture. The h-index measures both productivity and citation impact of a researcher. Altmetrics track mentions in news articles, social media, and policy documents. CiteScore (from Scopus) uses a three-year window and includes a broader range of document types.

Citation Patterns and Article Types

The impact factor calculation only counts “citable items” as the denominator. For Accounts of Chemical Research, these are primarily review articles and accounts. Editorials, corrections, news items, and book reviews are excluded. This means the journal’s impact factor is driven entirely by its core content.

Analysis of the journal’s most cited articles from 2021 and 2022 shows recurring themes. Topics in materials chemistry, particularly energy storage and catalysis, consistently receive high citation counts. Articles on organic synthesis methodology and supramolecular chemistry also perform well. In contrast, articles on niche subfields or older topics tend to receive fewer citations.

For example, an account published in early 2021 on the design of metal-organic frameworks for carbon dioxide capture had accumulated over 150 citations by the end of 2023. An account on the history of a specific reaction mechanism published in the same year had fewer than 20. This variation is normal and illustrates why the impact factor is an average, not a guarantee.

The self-citation rate for Accounts of Chemical Research is low, typically below 5%. This means the impact factor is driven by citations from other journals, not by the journal citing its own articles.

Practical Implications

For researchers considering submitting an account to the journal, the impact factor is one factor among many. A publication in Accounts of Chemical Research carries prestige because of the journal’s selectivity and its history of publishing influential work. The acceptance rate is estimated at around 20-25%. Authors should also consider the journal’s readership, which includes both academic researchers and industrial chemists.

For readers, the impact factor is a starting point for identifying journals that publish consistently cited work, not a filter for quality. A more useful approach is to look at the number of citations an individual article has received, or to read the article itself and evaluate its methods and conclusions.

Many academic departments use the impact factor as a rough proxy for journal quality when evaluating candidates. This practice has been criticized for oversimplifying complex scholarly contributions. The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), signed by many universities and funding agencies, recommends against using journal-based metrics in hiring and promotion decisions.

Key Takeaways

• The 2023 Journal Impact Factor for Accounts of Chemical Research is 16.4, as reported by Clarivate.
• This score places the journal among the most cited and influential publications in chemistry.
• The impact factor measures average citations per article over a two-year window and does not reflect the quality of any single paper.
• Researchers should use the impact factor as one of several tools when deciding where to submit or what to read, not as the sole measure of value.