近期投稿录用正好涉及一个SCI期刊的更名过渡阶段，收到编辑部发送的Email。文章将发表在更名的新期刊上。内容如下：

Please note that only the journal title is being changed; the Aims & Scope and the Impact factor will remain the same. We are working on the production of your article under the new journal title and will get it fully published online in a few weeks.

期刊更名后到底有什么影响？需要注意两种情况，一种就是ISSN不变仅是期刊名变化，这种影响不大；另外一种就是ISSN也变，那会有影响。收集资料如下，供碰到的朋友参考：

一、影响因子的计算 （已发表的论文属于当时发表并见刊的期刊名，不存在任何问题，仍然还是被sci收录的。若文章直接发表在新刊名上，第一年可说明该期刊更名前的刊名（formerly known as: xxx），并附上IF 即可。从第二年起可正式标注属于它自己的 IF 数据，而当旧期刊名彻底被取代后（即不再有IF），就可说明它的新刊名及最新IF）

The impact factor (IF) of a journal is a simple average obtained by considering the number of citations that articles in the journal have received within a specific time frame. Journal IFs are calculated yearly and disclosed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) published by Thomson Reuters. The IF of a journal for a particular year is calculated on the basis of citations received for the papers published in that journal during the previous two years.

When a journal changes its name, the official title change is completed only after two JCR years. In the first year, the new title does not have an IF because the journal would not have any articles published under the new title for the two preceding years. Hence, in the first year after the title change, the IF is assigned to the old title and not the new one. The new title has an Immediacy Index for the first year in place of the IF. 

In the second year, separate IFs are calculated for both the old and new titles. The IF for the new title will be comparatively low as the articles published in it are more recent and hence, might not have received too many citations. On the other hand, the IF for the old title will be higher because the articles in it are older and have, therefore, received more citations. To get an accurate picture of the IF of the journal, a Unified IF based on both the new and old title is calculated.

From the third year, only the new journal title will be there in JCR with a proper Impact Factor.

For example, let us consider that Journal A changes its name to Journal B in 2013. Let us see how the IF will be calculated for the old and new titles in JCR.

In 2013:

Journal B won't have any article published in 2012 and 2011. Thus, Journal B will not have an IF in 2013. It will only have an Immediacy Index to indicate that this is a new title.

In 2014:

Journal A IF will be calculated on the basis of articles published in 2012 ( because from 2013, all articles are published in Journal B)

Journal B will have articles published in 2013 to calculate IF.

However, neither of these two IFs will give a correct measure of the journal’s actual Impact Factor, because each of them is calculated on the basis of one year. To know the actual IF of the journal in 2014, we will have to calculate the Unified IF.

In 2015:

Journal A will not have an IF (no articles in published in Journal A in 2013 and 2014)

Journal B will have a proper IF based on the articles published in 2013 and 2014

From 2015 onwards, Journal B will be in JCR with a proper IF. Thus, the title change process that was started in 2013 will be complete only in 2015.

Thus, in the year of the title change, the IF that is assigned by JCR belongs to the old journal name. The IF of the new title is assigned solely on the basis of articles published under the new name: it is completely independent of the old title.

This is the standard process Thomson Reuters follows for journals with name changes. Since JCR is generally accepted globally, the process for assigning IFs to new journals should be recognized by universities and institutions across the world, including China.

二、SCI收录情况

应该是不影响SCI收录。

三、中科院分区情况

中科院分区表是基于JCR的数据，但对于JCR中期刊刊名更名/合并的情况进行数据规范处理。对于变更刊名的期刊，JCR会保留两个刊名，会计算两个IF。中科院分区表会将变更前期刊数据合并到变更后的期刊，且重新计算IF，只保留变更后刊名和ISSN。