Abstract :
A measure of formal journal utility designed to offset
some of the more noteworthy limitations of the impact
factor (IF)—i.e., short follow-up, citations to items in
the numerator that are not included in the denominator,
self-citations, and the greater citation rate of review
articles—was constructed and applied to 15 crimepsychology
journals. This measure, referred to as Citations
Per Article (CPA), was correlated with a measure
of informal journal utility defined as the frequency with
which 58 first authors in the field consulted these
15 crime-psychology journals. Results indicated that the
CPA, but not the IF, correlated significantly with informal
utility. Two journals (Law and Human Behavior and
Criminal Justice and Behavior) displayed consistently
high impact across measures of formal and informal utility
while several other journals (Journal of Interpersonal
Violence; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; Sexual
Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment; and
Behavioral Sciences and the Law) showed signs of moderate
impact when formal and informal measures were
combined.
