We propose a new modularity criterion in complex networks,called the unifying modularity q which is independent of the number of partitions.It is shown that,for a given network,the relationship between the upper limit of Q and the number of the partitions,k,is sup(Qk)=(k-1)/k.Since the range of Q for each partition number is inconsistent,we try to extend the concept Q to unifying modularity q,which is independent of the number of partitions.Subsequently,we indicate that it is more accurately to determine the number of partitions by using unifying modularity q than Q.