Impact factor and its role in academic promotion: A statement adopted by the International Respiratory Journal Editors Roundtable
2009; American Physiological Society; Volume: 107; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1152/japplphysiol.00891.2009
ISSN8750-7587
Autores Tópico(s)Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
ResumoEDITORIALImpact factor and its role in academic promotion: A statement adopted by the International Respiratory Journal Editors RoundtableJerome A. DempseyJerome A. DempseyThe John Rankin Laboratory of Pulmonary Medicine, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WisconsinPublished Online:01 Oct 2009https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00891.2009This is the final version - click for previous versionMoreSectionsPDF (30 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInWeChat the impact factor is a metric developed and published by Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports (JCR) (http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/academic/impact_factor/; July 22, 2009) that quantifies how often articles in a given journal are cited during a given time period; it is the ratio between citations and citable articles. The Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to articles published in two preceding years by the number of citable articles (excluding editorial, letters, news items, meeting abstracts) published in those two preceding years. The Impact Factor is also calculated for 5-yr periods. The Impact Factor is used widely as a metric to judge the quality of a journal's content. It has also been used to judge the value of an individual scientist's research, as determined by the Impact Factors of the journals in which they publish.The International Respiratory Journal Editors Roundtable is comprised of the editors of 14 journals concerned with the science of the respiratory system. This group corresponds and meets at international meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest. The implications of the Impact Factor for journals—especially in its widespread use in judging the value of the research of individual scientists—were discussed in several of these meetings. These discussions resulted in the unanimous approval of the following statement concerned specifically with the usage of the Impact Factor for academic promotions of individual scientists.IMPACT FACTOR AND ITS ROLE IN ACADEMIC PROMOTIONThis statement was adopted unanimously at the May 17, 2009, meeting of the International Respiratory Journal Editors Roundtable.In our collective experience as editors of international peer-reviewed journals, we propose that the impact factor calculated for individual journals should not be used as a basis for evaluating the significance of an individual scientist's past performance or scientific potential. There are several reasons not to equate the impact factor of a journal in which the scientist publishes with the quality of the scientist's research. For example, as revealed by several recently published analyses of the impact factor (1–6):A journal's impact factor is determined by a decided minority of its published manuscripts. Thus the impact factor correlates poorly with the citations of an individual manuscript.The impact factor does not consider the number of scientists actively producing research in a given specialty field. Indeed, some journals feel the need to serve constituencies with relatively small numbers of participants who continue to address important questions even though the number of scientists available for citations is limited.A journal's impact factor can be inflated by certain journal practices such as publication of many review articles.Impact factor measures only the frequency of citations which cannot be assumed to always equate with quality.There are alternatives and we believe more valid measures of the quality and impact of an individual scientist's published contributions. First, a citation record for the individual candidate is readily available via several types of Internet search engines. Second, the time-honored practice of soliciting evaluations concerning the significance of a candidate's work from scientific peers who are carefully selected to be both highly qualified as well as clearly "arms-length" from the candidate should be rigorously applied.The following members of the International Respiratory Journal Editors Roundtable prepared, reviewed, altered, and edited this statement: Alan R. Leff, MD (Chair), Proceedings of the American Thoracic SocietyEdward Abraham, MD, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care MedicineKenneth B. Adler, PhD, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular BiologyVito Brusasco, MD, European Respiratory JournalPeter Calverley, MD, ThoraxJerome A. Dempsey, PhD, Journal of Applied PhysiologyAnh Tuan Dinh-Xuan, MD, European Respiratory JournalRobb W. Glenny, MD, Journal of Applied PhysiologyMark L. Levy, FRCGP, Primary Care Respiratory JournalReynold Panettieri, Jr., MD, Respiratory ResearchHelen K. Reddel, MD, RespirologyDave Singh, MD, International Journal of COPDJ. Christian Virchow, MD, Respiratory MedicineREFERENCES1. Chew M , Villanueva EV , Van Der Weyden MB. Life and times of the impact factor: retrospective analysis of trends for seven medical journals (1994–2005) and their Editors' views. J R Soc Med 100: 142–150, 2007.ISI | Google Scholar2. Ketcham CM , Crawford JM. The impact of review articles. Lab Invest 87: 1174–1185, 2007.Crossref | ISI | Google Scholar3. Ogden TL , Bartley DL. The ups and downs of journal impact factors. Ann Occup Hyg 52: 73–82, 2008.Google Scholar4. Smith R. Beware the tyranny of impact factors. J Bone Joint Surg (Br) 90-B: 125–126, 2008.Crossref | Google Scholar5. Szklo M. Impact factor: good reasons for concern. Epidemiology 19: 369, 2008.Crossref | ISI | Google Scholar6. Wilcox AJ. Rise and fall of the Thomson impact factor. Epidemiology 19: 373, 2008.Crossref | ISI | Google ScholarAUTHOR NOTESAddress for reprint requests and other correspondence: J. A. Dempsey, Editor, Journal of Applied Physiology, The John Rankin Laboratory of Pulmonary Medicine, The Univ. of Wisconsin, 4245 Medical Sciences Center, 1300 Univ. Ave., Madison, WI 53706 (e-mail: jdempsey@wisc.edu). Download PDF Back to Top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation Cited ByJournal editors as philosopher kings: duties and responsibilities of academics in a changing world17 July 2017 | South Asian History and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 3¿Cómo mejorar la visibilidad de la investigación enfermera española? Publicaciones de referencia e índices de calidadEnfermería Clínica, Vol. 25, No. 1Technological impact factor: An indicator to measure the impact of academic publications on practical innovationJournal of Informetrics, Vol. 8, No. 1A avaliação da produtividade em pesquisa na Educação Física: reflexões sobre algumas limitações dos indicadores bibliométricosRevista Brasileira de Educação Física e Esporte, Vol. 26, No. 4Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?24 November 2011 | Scientometrics, Vol. 92, No. 2What do the scientists think about the impact factor?22 February 2012 | Scientometrics, Vol. 92, No. 2Effects of aging, and other bad behaviorsPeter D. Wagner1 May 2012 | Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 112, No. 9Two-year citations of JAPPL original articles: evidence of a relative age effectClaudio Gil Soares de Araújo, Bruno Ribeiro Ramalho de Oliveira, Letícia Vargas de Oliveira Brito, Thiago Torres da Matta, Bruno Ferreira Viana, Cintia Pereira de Souza, Renato de Carvalho Guerreiro, Fabian Antonio Slama, and Eduardo da Matta Mello Portugal1 May 2012 | Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 112, No. 9Book Review: The Publish or Perish Book: Your Guide to Effective and Responsible Citation AnalysisHarzingAnne-WilThe Publish or Perish Book: Your Guide to Effective and Responsible Citation Analysis. Melbourne, Australia: Tarma Software Research, 2010–2011. 246 pp. $49.95 (Black & White Edition).ISBN 978-0-98084852622 March 2012 | Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Vol. 17, No. 2What's in a number?Peter D. Wagner, MD1 October 2011 | Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 111, No. 4Índice-H dos artigos citantes: uma contribuição para a avaliação da produção científica de pesquisadores experientesRevista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, Vol. 17, No. 5State of the Journal of Applied Physiology: 2011Jerome A. Dempsey1 June 2011 | Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 110, No. 6Editorial: The peer review process and EPER9 November 2010 | European Physical Education Review, Vol. 16, No. 1 More from this issue > Volume 107Issue 4October 2009Pages 1005-1005 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2009 the American Physiological Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00891.2009PubMed19679740History Published online 1 October 2009 Published in print 1 October 2009 Metrics
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