Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research

Seglen, Per O.

Affiliations

¹Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education (NIFU) Hegdehaugsveien 31 N-0352 Oslo Norway

Links

PubMed: 9056804

WoS: A1997WJ41900034

History

Accepted: 1997-01-09

Cited Works (4)

Year	Entry
1996	Moed HF, van Leeuwen TN. Impact factors can mislead. Nature. May 16, 1996;381(6579):186.
1993	Taubes G. Measure for measure in science. Science. May 14, 1993;260(5110):884-886.
1995	Metcalfe NB. Journal impact factors. Nature. August 31, 1995;376(6543):720.
1989	MacRoberts MH, MacRoberts BR. Problems of citation analysis: a critical review. J Am Soc Inform Sci. September 1989;40(5):324-349.

Cited By (21)

Year	Entry
2008	Adler R, Ewing J, Taylor P. Citation Statistics. Joint Committee on Quantitative Assessment of Research; June 2008.
2008	Falagas ME, Alexiou VG. The top-ten in journal impact factor manipulation. Arch Immunol Ther Exp. July–August 2008;56(4):223-226.
2003	Frank M. Impact factors: arbiter of excellence? J Med Libr Assoc. January 2003;91(1):4-6.
2004	Kaltenborn K-F, Kuhn K. The journal impact factor as a parameter for the evaluation of researchers and research. Rev Esp Enf Dig (Madrid). July 2004;96(7):460-476.
2007	Labanaris AP, Vassiliadu AP, Polykandriotis E, Tjiawi J, Arkudas A, Horch RE. Impact factors and publication times for plastic surgery journals. Plast Reconstruct Surg. 2007;120(7):2076-2081.
2004	Pudovkin AI, Garfield E. Rank-normalized impact factor: a way to compare journal performance across subject categories. Proc Am Soc Info Sci Technol. 2004;41(1):507-515.
2003	Saha S, Saint S, Christakis DA. Impact factor: a valid measure of journal quality? J Med Libr Assoc. January 2003;91(1):42-46.
2003	Tobin MJ. Impact factor and the journal. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003;168(6):621-622.
2009	Van Nierop E. Why do statistics journals have low impact factors? Stat Neerl. 2009;63(1):52-62.
2010	Mavrogenis AF, Ruggieri P, Papagelopoulos PJ. Self-citation in publishing. Clin Orthop Relat Res. October 2010;468(10):2803-2807.
2009	McVeigh ME, Mann SJ. The journal impact factor denominator: defining citable (counted) items. JAMA. September 9, 2009;302(10):1107-1109.
2009	Althouse BM, West JD, Bergstrom CT, Bergstrom T. Differences in impact factor across fields and over time. J Am Soc Inform Sci Technol. January 2009;60(1):27-34.
2003	Kurmis AP. Understanding the limitations of the journal impact factor. J Bone Joint Surg. 2003;85B(12):2449-2454.
2002	Adam D. Citation analysis: the counting house. Nature. February 14, 2002;415(6873):726-729.
2007	Postma E. Inflated impact factors? the true impact of evolutionary papers in non-evolutionary journals. PLoS One. 2007;2(10):e999.
2012	Tort ABL, Targino ZH, Amaral OB. Rising publication delays inflate journal impact factors. PLoS One. December 2012;7(12):e53374.
2010	Durieux V, Gevenois PA. Bibliometric indicators: quality measurements of scientific publication. Radiology. May 2010;255(2):342-351.
2012	Wilhite AW, Fong EA. Coercive citation in academic publishing. Science. February 3, 2012;335(6068):542-543.
2008	Amat CB. Editorial and publication delay of papers submitted to 14 selected food research journals: influence of online posting. Scientometrics. 2008;74(3):379-389.
2010	Abramo G, D’Angelo CA, Di Costa F. Citations versus journal impact factor as proxy of quality: could the latter ever be preferable? Scientometrics. September 2010;84(3):821-833.
2012	Vanclay JK. Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification? Scientometrics. August 2012;92(2):211-238.