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Editorial
. 2017 Feb;32(2):173-179.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.2.173.

The Journal Impact Factor: Moving Toward an Alternative and Combined Scientometric Approach

Armen Yuri Gasparyan  1 , Bekaidar Nurmashev  2 , Marlen Yessirkepov  3 , Elena E Udovik  4 , Aleksandr A Baryshnikov  5 , George D Kitas  6   7
Affiliations
Editorial

The Journal Impact Factor: Moving Toward an Alternative and Combined Scientometric Approach

Armen Yuri Gasparyan et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is a single citation metric, which is widely employed for ranking journals and choosing target journals, but is also misused as the proxy of the quality of individual articles and academic achievements of authors. This article analyzes Scopus-based publication activity on the JIF and overviews some of the numerous misuses of the JIF, global initiatives to overcome the 'obsession' with impact factors, and emerging strategies to revise the concept of the scholarly impact. The growing number of articles on the JIF, most of which are in English, reflects interest of experts in journal editing and scientometrics toward its uses, misuses, and options to overcome related problems. Solely displaying values of the JIFs on the journal websites is criticized by experts as these average metrics do not reflect skewness of citation distribution of individual articles. Emerging strategies suggest to complement the JIFs with citation plots and alternative metrics, reflecting uses of individual articles in terms of downloads and distribution of related information through social media and networking platforms. It is also proposed to revise the original formula of the JIF calculation and embrace the concept of the impact and importance of individual articles. The latter is largely dependent on ethical soundness of the journal instructions, proper editing and structuring of articles, efforts to promote related information through social media, and endorsements of professional societies.

Keywords: Editorial Policies; Journal Impact Factor; Periodicals as Topic; Publication Ethics; Publishing; Science Communication.

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Conflict of interest statement

Armen Yuri Gasparyan is an expert of Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (since 2015), former council member of the European Association of Science Editors and chief editor of European Science Editing (2011–2014). All other authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of Scopus-indexed items tagged with the term “Journal Impact Factor (JIF)” (as of November 6, 2016).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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