Vincent Larivière, Cassidy R. Sugimoto: The Journal Impact
Factor: A brief history, critique, and discussion of adverse effects. https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08992 [cs.DL]
The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is, by far, the most discussed
bibliometric indicator. Since its introduction over 40 years ago, it has
had enormous effects on the scientific ecosystem: transforming the
publishing industry, shaping hiring practices and the allocation of
resources, and, as a result, reorienting the research activities and
dissemination practices of scholars. Given both the ubiquity and impact
of the indicator, the JIF has been widely dissected and debated by
scholars of every disciplinary orientation. Drawing on the existing
literature as well as on original research, this chapter provides a
brief history of the indicator and highlights well-known
limitations-such as the asymmetry between the numerator and the
denominator, differences across disciplines, the insufficient citation
window, and the skewness of the underlying citation distributions. The
inflation of the JIF and the weakening predictive power is discussed, as
well as the adverse effects on the behaviors of individual actors and
the research enterprise. Alternative journal-based indicators are
described and the chapter concludes with a call for responsible
application and a commentary on future developments in journal
indicators.
Forthcoming in Glanzel, W., Moed, H.F., Schmoch U., Thelwall, M.
(2018). Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators. Cham
(Switzerland): Springer International Publishing.
via http://www.univie.ac.at/voeb/blog/?p=45487
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