Journal Impact measures the relative importance of a journal based upon citations, providing useful references to the following stakeholders:
- Researchers - which journals should they publish in?
- University Management - If faculty members published in high impact journals
- Students - which are the best journals in a given field
- Librarians - supports serials collection development
Thomson-Reuters (formerly ISI) - Journal Citation Reports has been a major tool to provide journal impact factor, but until recently, there are some alternative indicators available for reference as well.