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How can impact factors be improved?
1Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. garfield@aurora.cis.upenn.edu
BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.)
|August 17, 1996
Summary
Journal impact factors are common but can be misused. Long-term data show impact reflects a journal's success in publishing top research papers.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Scholarly Communication
- Journal Evaluation
Background:
- Journal impact factors are widely utilized for ranking and evaluating scientific journals.
- Concerns exist regarding the inappropriate use of impact factors as surrogates in academic evaluations.
- The inventor of the Science Citation Index has cautioned against the indiscriminate application of these metrics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a quantitative assessment of the long-term influence of leading medical journals.
- To analyze cumulative impact data over a 14-year period.
- To offer a nuanced perspective on the meaning and utility of journal impact factors.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 14-year cumulative impact data.
- Focus on 10 leading medical journals.
- Quantitative bibliometric analysis.
Main Results:
- Cumulative impact data over 14 years offer a more stable indicator of journal influence than single-year metrics.
- Leading medical journals demonstrate sustained influence over time.
- Journal impact is fundamentally tied to the quality and significance of the research published.
Conclusions:
- While impact factors are useful, their limitations must be acknowledged.
- Long-term impact data provide a more robust measure of journal influence.
- Ultimately, a journal's true impact is determined by its success in attracting and publishing high-quality scientific contributions.