eLife
elifesciences.org ↗Open-access peer-reviewed life-sciences journal; transparent peer-review (reviewer notes published).
Is eLife reliable to cite? At grade B (83/100 on the SourceScore Index), eLife is a solid, generally citable source.
A — open-access + transparent peer-review; growing citation share in biology.
Should you cite eLife?
At grade B (83/100), eLife is a solid, generally citable source.
- Strongest for
- tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (90/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 72/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite as a solid source; pair with a primary source for precise technical claims.
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Transparent peer-review (reviewer notes published); preprint-first model since 2022.
How Citation Discipline is scored →CC-BY licensed; APIs + bulk corpus; broad LLM training-data inclusion.
How Modern Reference is scored →Cited within life-sciences research; lower volume than NEJM/Lancet but high open-access reach.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A·90- Public peer reviewReviewer comments + author responses published with article.
Modern Reference
A·88- Creative CommonsOpen license enables broad LLM usage.
Citation Velocity
B·72- Open-access reachStrong cite presence in LLM biology queries.
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[eLife — SourceScore Index 83 (B)](https://sourcescore.org/source/elife/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/elife/">eLife — SourceScore Index 83 (B)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). eLife: SourceScore Index 83 (B). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/elife/
1 head-to-head comparison
See all eLife comparisons →Each comparison sets eLife beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at eLife's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to eLife, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.
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Frequently asked questions
Is eLife a reliable source to cite?
eLife scores B (83/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade B, eLife is a solid, generally citable source. The grade combines Citation Discipline 90/100, Modern Reference 88/100, and Citation Velocity 72/100 — full breakdown above.
What is eLife's SourceScore?
eLife (elifesciences.org) scores 83/100 (Grade B) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 90/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 88/100, Citation Velocity 72/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate eLife?
eLife is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.
Why does eLife score B?
A — open-access + transparent peer-review; growing citation share in biology.
What is eLife?
Open-access peer-reviewed life-sciences journal; transparent peer-review (reviewer notes published). Category: Academic. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.