Impact factor. A review with specific relevance to orthodontic journals.

The aim of this article is to address the issues of impact factor and circulation with reference to dental and orthodontic journals by discussing various parameters including language, citations, nature of published articles, and scientific domain. Examples from the literature are provided to illustrate the variability of impact factors among periodicals, based on the publicity and scientific area covered, and the impact factor scores are presented together with the circulation of orthodontic periodicals.