Is the impact factor the only game in town?

Abstract

“Not everything that can be counted counts. Not everything that counts can be counted.” William Bruce Cameron Journal metrics mania started over 50 years ago with the impact factor that has since become so well entrenched in publishing. Ask anyone where they would like to publish their research and most will reply by saying in a journal with the highest impact factor. While this suggests quality and a degree of vetting by the scientific community, the impact factor has also been used to benchmark and compare journals. Impact factors are often used as a proxy of a journal 's quality and scientific prestige. However, is medicine dependent on a valuation system that may be grounded in falsity? Much about this measure is imperfect and destructive. Journals can manipulate the impact factor by refusing to publish articles like case reports that are unlikely to be cited or, conversely, by publishing a large proportion of review articles, which tend to attract more citations. Another tactic that may be used is to publish articles that could be highly cited early in the year, thereby leaving more time to collect citations. Many use the impact factor as an important determinant of grants, awards, promotions and career advancement, and also as a basis for an individual's reputation and professional standing. Nevertheless, you should remember that the impact factor is not a measure of an individual article, let alone an individual scientist. As long as an article has been cited, the citation will contribute to the journal's impact factor. This is regardless of whether the article's premise is true or false, or whether the cited paper was being credited or criticised. Perversely, a weak paper that is being refuted will augment the impact factor, as will a retracted article, because although the article may have been retracted, the citations of this article will still count. The impact factor has weathered many storms in the past but criticisms against it are increasing, as is interest in displacing it as a single metric used to measure an article's influence. Many would like the scientific community to assess research on its merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which it is published. With the advent of social media, an article can now be commented on in real time with Tweets, bookmarks and blogs. In future, these measures will complement the impact factor but they will probably not become an alternative. Despite its imperfections, the impact factor has been around for a long time. As yet, although many alternative metrics have since emerged, nothing better is available. Perhaps it is the scientific community's misuse of the impact factor that is the problem and not the impact factor itself? In this article, Pippa Smart, who is the guest editor for this series, writes about the ways to measure the impact of a journal and published articles. JYOTI SHAH Commissioning Editor

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