Using physics literature to ground your research: Reading & assessing articles

There are a number of impact rankings given to journals to attempt to measure how impactful, or great the reach of a journal is.  Higher impact journals are generally able to publish the most rigorous, quality research articles, so looking at journal rankings might help you determine what journals to follow and search for sources for your research.

Journal rankings are also problematic, and several different formulas to attempt to measure impact have been developed.  The different formulas each put different emphasis on different things.  Three of the measures for ranking journals are:

Follow these steps to find ranked lists of physics journals:

Journal Impact Factor & Eigenfactor:

1. Visit InCites Journal Citation Reports.
2. Click on "Browse by Journal."
3. Expand "Select Categories" and scroll through the list until you arrive at the physics categories.  You can choose one or several of these categories including applied physics; atomic, molecular & chemical physics; condensed matter physics; fluids & plasma physics; mathematical physics; multidisciplinary physics; nuclear physics; and particles & fields physics.
4. Once you've made your selection(s) scroll down to the bottom and hit "submit."
5. You'll get a chart that generally defaults to ranking the journals by Journal Impact Factor, highest to lowest.  You can click on Journal Impact Factor and Eigenfactor to change how the chart is ranked.

SCImago Journal & Country Reports:

1. Visit BrowZine's list of Physics Sciences Journals, set to sort by SCImago Journal Rank (SJR).
2. There are a number of subcategories under Physics you can select if you'd like to, including applied physics; astrophysics; atomic, molecular, and optical physics; biological and chemical physics; condensed matter physics; engineering physics; fluid mechanics; gravity and relativity; mathematical and statistical physics; nonlinear dynamics; nuclear and particle physics; physics - general/interdisciplinary; plasma and beam physics; quantum physics; superconductivity; and thermodynamics.

Reading articles

Efficiently reading articles for research purposes is a unique way of reading. The more you do it, the more you'll get a sense of what works for you, and your field overall, but a typical approach breaks down like this:

1. Spend a few minutes skimming the article, starting with the abstract, headings, figures and conclusion. Is it relevant enough to devote more time to?
   1. It's OK to be ruthless at this stage--if it helps save in your citation manager in a folder titled 'Maybe' or something similar.
2. If you determine it's useful, hunker down and read. You don't have to read in order. Think about why you're reading. Is it to learn how to design an experiment? Start with methods. Is it to identify a gap in the literature or use as evidence? Start with the discussion and conclusion.
3. Taking notes may be part of reading, or something you do after a read. Either way, note the key evidence quickly after reading so you don't have to return and refamiliarize yourself.
4. Follow up on any intriguing citations and start the cycle again.

Assessing Claims & Citations

Using a method called BEAM (first developed by Joseph Bizup) you can quickly think about how you would like to use an article, and how another article might've used a citation. This can help you decide whether to follow up on a citation or not. Some search tools like Web of Science, have similar classifications to help you know how an article is used in a forward citation search. Whether or not you follow this method, thinking about why another author has used an article, or why you might want to use an article, can help you quickly assess whether an article is useful to engage with more deeply.