A journal's quartile in the Web of Science database is recalculated every year, based on Journal Citation Reports data. As a result, a title's position in the ranking can shift even without any direct change to its content or editorial policy.
How is a journal's quartile determined in Web of Science?
A quartile is a journal's position within its subject category, based on its Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Titles in a category are ranked in descending order of this score and split into four equal groups: the top 25% form Q1, the next 25% – Q2, followed by Q3 and Q4.
A quartile is relative by nature: it shows a journal's standing among titles in the same category, not an absolute measure of quality. This is why the same Impact Factor can correspond to different quartiles in different subject categories.
JCR methodology updates affect journal quartiles
Each annual Journal Citation Reports release can shift quartile boundaries even without any change at a particular title. The JCR 2026 release covers metrics for 22,643 journals across 254 categories. In recent releases, the Impact Factor has been calculated for all journals in the Web of Science Core Collection, rather than only for titles previously included in the flagship indexes, and since 2025 citations to retracted publications have been excluded from the calculation.
A journal's quartile can change for the following reasons:
- updates to the impact factor calculation methodology
- growth in the number of titles within a subject category
- a journal being moved to a different subject category
- exclusion of citations to retracted articles from the calculation
- a temporary suspension of metric calculation due to anomalous citation activity
Why does a change in subject category affect a journal's quartile?
The same journal is often assigned to several subject categories at once, and its quartile is calculated separately within each one. If the editorial team refines the journal's scope, or Web of Science revises its categorisation, the title is then benchmarked against a different set of journals.
As a result, the quartile can rise or fall without any change to the Impact Factor itself – only the composition of the category the journal is compared against changes.
Anomalous citation patterns lower a journal's quartile
Web of Science also monitors anomalous citation patterns, such as excessive self-citation or citation stacking between journals. When such patterns are identified, the Impact Factor calculation is suspended and the quartile is temporarily not published, although the journal retains its indexing in the database.
How to account for a possible quartile change when choosing a journal
For a scientist preparing for a dissertation defence, it is worth bearing in mind that a journal's quartile is often part of the publication criteria used by universities and dissertation committees. It is therefore useful to check current data before submitting a manuscript, rather than relying on previous years' figures.
Before submitting a paper, it is worth taking several steps:
- Check the current quartile of the journal in the latest JCR release before submitting your manuscript.
- Establish which subject category the journal is assigned to in this release.
- Compare the journal's indicators with several other titles in the same category.
- Confirm that the journal meets your institution's requirements for academic publications.
A change in quartile is, as a rule, the result of a systematic recalculation of metrics, rather than a sign that a particular journal's quality has declined. Checking current JCR data before submission allows a scientist to rely on up-to-date rather than outdated information.
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