Is SCI Impact Factor valid for a year? And, my PhD publication dilemma regarding it My advisor asked me to publish in an SCI-indexed journal with better impact factor (say more than 1). I found a journal with impact factor as 1.2. But the journal says that its present impact factor is based on 2015 journal citation report (JCR). It does not mention anything the year 2016. I couldn't find their name listed in 2016 report too. But I found a journal with impact factor .4 in 2016 report. My questions are


Is the Impact factor valid only for a year?
If I publish my work in a journal that says having an impact factor (in the year 2015), can I claim it when I publish in 2017?
Some theoretical background regarding the impact factor:

The impact factor released in the summer of year X ist the impact factor X-1 which means, it takes into account all references of the papers published in year X-1 citing papers published in the years X-2 and X-3. 

Currently, in spring 2017, the latest impact factor was released in summer 2016 and it's the impact factor 2015. It has analyzed all references of the papers published in year 2015 citing papers published in the years 2014 and 2013. 

To make a long story short, the current impact factor of a journal says nothing about the current journal and especially nothing about one single article recently published in this journal.