2009
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-2036-x
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History of the journal impact factor: Contingencies and consequences

Abstract: This paper examines the genesis of journal impact measures and how their evolution culminated in the journal impact factor (JIF) produced by the Institute for Scientific Information. The paper shows how the various building blocks of the dominant JIF (published in the Journal Citation Report -JCR) came into being. The paper argues that these building blocks were all constructed fairly arbitrarily or for different purposes than those that govern the contemporary use of the JIF. The results are a faulty method, … Show more

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Cited by 235 publications
(164 citation statements)
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“…Our stratified analysis according to institution shows discrepancy between the highest publication rate and the lowest mean IF, which highlights the important point that quantity and quality of publications are not necessarily related. The IF, devised originally in the 1960s, is the most widely used method of rating quality of published evidence, 4 and is defined as the mean citation rate, during that given year, of the papers published in that journal during the previous 2 years. The IF can be perceived as a fortifying measure of journal quality, its papers and corresponding authors.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Our stratified analysis according to institution shows discrepancy between the highest publication rate and the lowest mean IF, which highlights the important point that quantity and quality of publications are not necessarily related. The IF, devised originally in the 1960s, is the most widely used method of rating quality of published evidence, 4 and is defined as the mean citation rate, during that given year, of the papers published in that journal during the previous 2 years. The IF can be perceived as a fortifying measure of journal quality, its papers and corresponding authors.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There is a vast body of literature on the JIF (see for example [23][24][25][26][27]). Yang and Zhang proposed a new JIF, calculated with the h-index as one of the variables, as an alternative to the traditional JIF published by ISI-Thomson Reuters [28].…”
Section: Introduction and Objectivesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…RePEc currently adjusts by weighing an authors publication by 1 For a survey on the role of impact factors see Archambault and Larivière (2009). the publishing journal's current impact factor. Impact factors, however, change over time as documented by Althouse et al (2008).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%