We have estimated the ISI-impact factor of Acta Botanica Brasilica for the past six years, calculated the journal's h-index, calculated the journal's self-citation, examined country and institutions of origin of the papers that cite Acta papers, and examined scope and profile of the most-cited papers published by the journal. Results demonstrated a steep rise in impact factor and citation frequency in 2008, which is most encouraging, but also revealed that the journal is below the level of maturity expected of a 20-year old journal. Visibility of the journal is mostly national although, surprisingly, journal's self-citation of 12% is fairly low. We use Acta as an example to discuss possible strategies to enhance the international visibility of botanical journals that are newcomers to ISI.
h-index; impact factor; scientometrics; self-citation
