Is impact factor necessary for "Prilozi (Contributions)" and Macedonia?

58 years after the creation of impact factor (IF) the professional public shows interest in IFs and their significance for academia and individuals. Really, is a medical journal with IF needed for Macedonia? Some other small and developing countries have pursued and accomplished this goal: Serbia, Slovenia, and Croatia. On the other hand the survey of publications in Macedonian medical journals has been found to lack quality. We believe that to strive to obtain an IF would be beneficial for all Macedonian interest groups involved. This would introduce an ambition among the members of Macedonian academia to publish (so far rare), than to publish in Pubmed listed journals (ambition present in very few Macedonian academics) and then to publish in journals with the highest IF possible (so far a very exclusive group of Macedonian medical professionals). In time this will help in creating and enforcing legal obligation for the academia for a promotion based on merit of IF scientific publications. We believe that this is possible only by Parliament legislation. This will be of benefit for Macedonian patients, the medical community and will unable this country to contribute to the universe of science. Lastly it would certainly be helpful in getting a Macedonian university in the prestigious first 500 Shangai list. Key words: impact factor, Macedonia, medical journals.