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Bibliometric rankings of journals based on Impact Factors: An axiomatic approach

2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.joi.2010.09.001

1875-5879

Denis Bouyssou, Thierry Marchant,

scientometrics and bibliometrics research

This paper proposes an axiomatic analysis of Impact Factors when used as tools for ranking journals. This analysis draws on the similarities between the problem of comparing distribution of citations among papers and that of comparing probability distributions on consequences as commonly done in decision theory. Our analysis singles out a number of characteristic properties of the ranking based on Impact Factors. We also suggest alternative ways of using distributions of citations to rank order journals.