
{"id":1622,"date":"2015-08-31T05:48:12","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T05:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-impact-factor-for-better-or-for-worse\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:42:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:42:36","slug":"the-impact-factor-for-better-or-for-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-impact-factor-for-better-or-for-worse","title":{"rendered":"The impact factor: For better or for worse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Editage Insights works with ISMTE to bring great content to editors in the publishing industry. Once a month, Editage Insights shares the Editor&#8217;s Choice article from ISMTE&#8217;s member-only newsletter. Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ismte.org\/?page=SharedArticles\">ISMTE&#8217;s featured article<\/a> for August, reproduced with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The very words \u201cImpact Factor\u201d can send a shiver of fear through the spines of many journal editors as they contemplate the next number their journals will receive. Yet this measurement can be an aid to a journal if it is understood and treated with respect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>Background and Definitions <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The IF is calculated by taking (1) the number of times all items published in Journal X over a two-year period (<em>e.g.<\/em>, 2012 and 2013) are cited by other Web of Science\u2013indexed publications in the following year (2014 in this case) and (2) the number of citable items published in Journal X in that same two-year period. Then the math is performed: 1 divided by 2. The resulting number is Journal X\u2019s 2014 IF, which the journal will receive in 2015, usually in June. The IF is the average number of citations received by each article published during that particular two-year period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The IF was first mentioned by Eugene Garfield in <em>Science<\/em> magazine in 1955. He had no idea at the time what a controversial and important measure it would become.<sup>1<\/sup> In 1960, Garfield founded The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), which was acquired by Thomson Scientific &amp; Healthcare in 1992. ISI began to publish Journal Citation Reports (containing the IFs) in 1977 as part of the Science Citation Index. Thomson ISI is now part of Thomson Reuters, and their Web of Science\u00ae database service currently indexes more than 12,000 scholarly journals.<sup>2<\/sup> Thomson Reuters recently branded their products to remove \u201cISI\u201d from the names, although you might still hear people refer to them as ISI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">As editors, our experience has shown us that in spite of the stress involved in maintaining a competitive IF, most of us want our journals to be a part of the process for several reasons. For Editors-in-Chief, the IF is an extremely important and useful tool, demonstrating the quality of their work through citations. It shows the world how well they fulfilled the roles of gatekeepers in scientific publishing. For publishers, the IF is a quantifiable measure of how well the various journals under their umbrella are operating. For authors, having their work published by a journal with a high IF can enhance their career. For Managing Editors, it can indicate the health of the journal and whether the strategic mission is on track.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>How Impact Factors Are<\/strong> <strong>Awarded<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Criteria for Inclusion in Web of Science <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Before a journal can be awarded an IF, it must be accepted for inclusion in one of the three separate indices of the Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded<sup>TM<\/sup>, Social Sciences Citation Index\u00ae, or Arts &amp; Humanities Citation Index\u00ae. General information on the journal selection process is available on the Thomson Reuters website, and a detailed explanation is provided in an article by James Testa,<sup>3<\/sup> Vice President of Editorial Development and Publisher Relations at Thomson Reuters, whose insights are also captured in a Wiley Exchanges interview.<sup>4<\/sup> To learn more about these procedures, one of the authors (D.B.) also spoke by phone with Mr. Testa earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">For all three of the Web of Science indices, journals are evaluated using the same criteria (citation rates, timeliness, international importance, English text, etc.), but the journal\u2019s merits are evaluated according to the specific needs of each citation category. For example, citation rates in the hard sciences cannot be compared with citation rates in the humanities.<sup>3<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Publications indexed in Web of Science are known for publishing \u201csignificant scholarly results,\u201d based upon citation analysis.<sup>3<\/sup> Although the number differs from year to year, thousands of journals apply for inclusion each year, hoping to be accepted and be able to reap this benefit of being well known and perceived. However, submitting a journal for evaluation for inclusion in the Web of Science requires thoughtful preparation. Thomson Reuters editors are constantly evaluating newly applied and currently indexed journals, with journals being added to and deleted from Web of Science throughout the year. The nine editors who determine which new applicants are accepted for indexing and eventually for receiving an IF are experts in the literature of the fields that they manage, and many have educational backgrounds in those fields.<sup>3<\/sup> According to Testa (personal communication), the Thomson Reuters editorial staff now reviews about 3,000 journal titles a year for inclusion in Web of Science. In 2012, around 10% to 12% of the journals that were evaluated were accepted for coverage.<sup>3<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Applying for Inclusion in Web of Science <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The intense competition for inclusion in Web of Science makes it crucial that anyone submitting their journal for consideration thoroughly understands the process. The Web of Science is reserved primarily for journals with peer-reviewed original research and reviews of literature (Testa, personal communication).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The application should include a letter with the journal name, the editors\u2019 names, the publishing aims, and the scope, as well as the major selling points of the journal.<sup>5<\/sup> Thomson Reuters will examine three consecutive issues of the journal, but will not look at retrospective issues. According to Testa (personal communication), the journal should have something new to say, have a specific focus, have a unique market, and have enough submissions to allow timely publication.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">One of the most important criteria for evaluation is timeliness. The journal must be publishing according to its reported publication schedule. The other major criterion is citation potential. Thomson Reuters editors will need to establish whether the journal\u2019s content will be cited at an appropriate level for the field and analyze the relationship to other journals in the field that are included in the index.<sup>3<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Citation analysis takes place on at least two levels. Thomson Reuters looks for citations to the journal itself, as expressed by IF and\/or total citations received. For new journals that do not yet have a citation history at the publication level, analysts examine the citation record of the contributing authors and Editorial Board members. This allows them to see whether the journal is able to attract contributions from scholars whose prior work has been useful to the research community.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">As Testa explained,<sup>4<\/sup> the full evaluation includes review of the journal\u2019s publishing standards (timeliness, accessible content, English language, peer review), editorial content (novel content, comparison to competitors), international diversity (authors, editors, Editorial Board representing an international community), and citation analysis. According to Testa, the support of a prestigious society does factor into a journal\u2019s evaluation, but the journal must meet the above criteria for inclusion. Lobbying for inclusion will not benefit the application.<sup>4<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Information on how to prepare a journal to be successfully evaluated can be found in Table 1. The journal must consistently meet the requirements listed in Table 1 to be accepted. The journal\u2019s publisher can be an important asset in this process because they have had experience submitting journals for evaluation. Access to resources, including a subscription to the Web of Science service, can help increase your chances for success. Thomson Reuters accepts applications throughout the year; submission information can be found in Box 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">If you apply and your journal is rejected, you have to wait two years before you can reapply. If you apply again after two years and the journal is rejected again, you cannot reapply for another four years. Testa noted in our conversation that after the next rejection, you have to wait eight years, after which you cannot reapply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>Improving Your Journal\u2019s Impact Factor\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Putting the Journal First<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Once a journal has an IF, most editors are keen to see it improve. In our conversation with James Testa, he advised us to worry less about how to improve the IF and to think instead about how to improve the journal. If you succeed in that, a higher IF will follow. When asked what the benefit of a high IF is to a journal, Testa emphasized that editors should not think of the IF itself as a benefit. Instead, the IF is a tool for measuring whether editors have been successful in building a better-quality journal; that is, the benefit is the journal itself. One might say that praising a strong IF is like taking your temperature with a thermometer, finding that you have no fever, and then praising the great thermometer instead of being happy about your healthy body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>The Role of the Editorial Office <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">One way to improve a journal is to have good guidelines, policies, and procedures. In an editorial published in the journal <em>Epidemiology<\/em>, the authors wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Most major epidemiology journals, including ours, have seen a steady rise in their impact factors during recent years. At the same time, the relative rank of these journals changes from year to year. Such changes are unlikely to represent true annual changes in these journals\u2019 relative quality. We think the various epidemiology journals are indeed different, and they deserve to be evaluated and compared. But we\u2019re happier when such assessments are based on matters of substance, such as editorial policies, quality of reviews, quality of editing, efficiency in the processing of manuscripts, and the (real) impact of the journal on the field.<\/em><sup>6<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">A number one journal in its field should prefer good policies, quality, efficiency, and \u201creal\u201d impact of their journal to a good \u201cimpact factor.\u201d Consider, though, that this might perfectly illustrate a chicken-and-egg situation. How important is it to develop such important aspects of a journal to become the best in the field? Which comes first\u2014quality or a high IF? Most institutions and businesses develop and put policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place as a means of quality control: For example, as explained in the University of Minnesota\u2019s Administrative Policy, the reason for policies is that \u201c[t]he required process by which the policies are developed, reviewed, and maintained promotes consistency, efficiency, and transparency and reflects best practice in higher education.\u201d<sup>7<\/sup> Furthermore, successful businesses and research labs alike use SOPs, defined by an online business dictionary as the \u201cwritten procedures prescribed for repetitive use as a practice, in accordance with agreed upon specifications aimed at obtaining a desired outcome,\u201d<sup>8<\/sup> to ensure a consistent outcome of their production processes and experiments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The basis for efficiency, reproducibility, and improvement lies in keeping good records. An Australian government document cites several benefits of good records, including that they \u201chelp you work more efficiently, enable you to meet legal obligations applicable to your work, \u2026 enable review of processes and decisions, \u2026help research and development activities, [and] enable consistency and continuity in your business.\u201d<sup>9<\/sup> Indeed, our authors\u2014scientists and scholars\u2014rely on such practices as keeping lab notebooks and recording research data.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Although the process of peer review is in flux as never before, it still represents the gold standard for developing trust in the results of published scientific and scholarly research (see Irene Hames\u2019 recent presentation, \u201cFuture of Peer Review,\u201d for further information<sup>10<\/sup>).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">At another level, developing loyalty (among authors and reviewers) and trust (in the peer review process) would seem to play important roles in establishing a good reputation and achieving high impact of a journal. In the business context, John Mehrmann outlined six objectives for building customer loyalty, five of which are of special importance in publishing<sup>11<\/sup>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">1. If you want loyalty, you have to give it<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">2. Communicate<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">3. Understand your customer\u2019s goals<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">4. Be consistent<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">5. Build credibility<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Like scientists, who work with a well-designed experimental protocol, good SOPs, and well-kept records, Editorial Offices should have clear instructions and well-formulated policies, standardized procedures, and consistent records and reports to provide the breeding ground for growth and reproducible results (i.e., more and higher-quality submissions). At the same time, showing loyalty to authors and reviewers and running a clean and timely peer-review process (i.e., one that is transparent and ethical) will help to build a good reputation and, ultimately, produce better publications in a journal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">An essential part of implementing and maintaining good procedures is, of course, to revisit them regularly to ensure they are running efficiently and effectively. According to Hames,12 \u201cAll policy decisions, especially those that may have far-reaching and long-term consequences for the journal, should be based on reality and not on perception.\u201d This underscores the importance of good follow-up and reports for establishing and monitoring policies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The simplest way to ensure timely publication is to have loyal authors and reviewers, clear procedures, and good SOPs that follow international editorial conventions for a steady flow of manuscripts that are processed in a standardized and consistent manner. Policies concerning funding and any associated conflicts of interest that are formulated and adhered to will not only promote transparency in the publication process but also reassure customers of a journal\u2019s credibility, which builds author and reviewer loyalty. Clean peer review will guarantee scientific quality and close the circle for continued improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>Impact Factor Uses and Abuses <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Testa noted that a common misuse of the IF is that people, including research institutions and universities, sometimes think of it as a way to measure a single author or single article.3 In truth, though, the author may or may not have had any effect on the IF for that journal. Despite this, academic careers in some European countries depend on IF-based criteria. For example, the Czech criteria for professorship include articles published in journals that have an IF and rank highest (calculated using a point system based on the IF of the journal), followed by peer-reviewed but \u201cnonimpacted\u201d articles, book chapters, local peerreviewed journals, conference abstracts, etc. At Czech and Slovak universities, there is a requirement for 10 to 15 IF articles and certain numbers of citations, which may differ among universities. Professorship candidates have to add the journal IF to each article in their list of publications wherever it is available, and provide a complete list of citations to their articles. Because of similar practices, the IF has become almost a curse word among scientists and editors in many European countries. Due to extreme pressures to publish in journals with an IF, some authors engage in various forms of academic misconduct, such as including people in the list of authors who were not engaged in the study at all. European journals with lower IFs than those in the United States suffer from the tendency of authors to publish in US or Canadian journals, and numerous individual scientists tend to favor American-oriented projects.<sup>13<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The uses (and abuses) of the IF are diverse. For example, in the Czech Republic, an annual evaluation system records the output of scientific research funded by grant agencies in the country. Research articles are evaluated by the IF ranking (<em>i.e.<\/em>, importance) of the journals in which they appear, using a sophisticated system to assign \u201cpoints\u201d to publications according to the IFs of the respective journals. Among other types of publications, book chapters can get some points, and peer-reviewed articles in non-IF journals obtain a minimum number of points in this system. One of the results of such pressures is that local professional journals for practitioners obtain fewer articles written by people employed at universities, and some of these journals survive only with difficulty. Academics need \u201cpapers with points\u201d for their grant applications and career advancement. Grant applications in which the authors present their articles published in journals with an IF that is not high enough are not even considered by the panels of experts. Therefore, taken to absurdity, if someone presented a brilliant, totally innovative research idea with no support in previous publications, s\/he would have no chance of obtaining a grant in this system. However, as Tim Hunt, a 2001 Nobel Laureate, said at the 2014 EASE (European Association of Science Editors) conference in Split, \u201cDiscoveries cannot be planned; they just occur.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">One way that authors sometimes play with the IF is by presenting the cumulative IF with final grant reports. These authors simply add up the IFs of all articles resulting from a particular grant to produce a proud IF of 75 or so. Some European scientists present their own cumulative IFs in their curriculum vitae. One may wonder what this number says about the real importance of the research project\u2014how did it contribute to the advancement of science? How much taxpayers\u2019 money has been saved by using the new knowledge in practice? What new measures to promote human or animal health have been introduced? What new procedure was developed to cultivate rice or quinoa that will feed millions of people?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Similarly, some editors are chasing IFs and doing unethical things just to inflate the IF of their journals. For example, they may accept a manuscript only if its authors agree to cite other papers published in that journal, a practice known as coercive citation<sup>14<\/sup> or excessive self-citation. Testa pointed out (personal communication) that another abuse is what Thomson Reuters calls a \u201ccitation cartel.\u201d This occurs when two or more journals within the same specialty agree to cite each other\u2019s articles with increased frequency. These practices, Testa said, render the IF meaningless. The IF is meant to measure a journal\u2019s relationship within the literature of that field. If it is affected only by its relationship with one other journal, then its usefulness is lessened. Thomson Reuters is well aware of these \u201ctricks,\u201d and when they catch a journal practicing any of them, they will likely suppress that journal\u2019s IF, typically for two years. The company used to drop the journal from Web of Science, but have since decided against that procedure. Now they let the publisher know the rationale and then they suppress the IF. The publisher can protest; however, in practice, by the point that Thomson Reuters moves to suppress an IF, their editors have spent so much time checking the data that they have never had to reverse their decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Such developments are somewhat comical in light of the findings by Golubic et al,<sup>15<\/sup> who discovered that a significant number of citations to items in Nature are not to original scientific articles but to letters, comments, or editorials, which in 2004 constituted 63% of the 5,193 items published. However surprising this finding may be, letters and comments often present interesting views and innovative ideas that attract citations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Without doubt, scientific publishing has changed over the years, partially due to IF pressures that the authors perceive. For example, in the early 1970s, at the international scientific journals Acta Veterinaria Brno and Veterinarni Medicina, manuscripts were rarely rejected. Authors asked important questions, prepared their articles well, had the references meticulously collected and accurately written (with no access to the search engines of today), and presented a sound contribution to scientific knowledge. However, since the early 2000s, probably due to increasing career pressures, unethical behaviors such as plagiarism or attempted duplicate publication have occurred with increasing frequency and, at present, a large number of submissions have to be rejected for various reasons: lack of novelty, no hypothesis, careless preparation, trivial results, or inaccurate and missing references.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The IF is an essential tool for evaluation of journals. There is general agreement among scientists (less so among the science-evaluating bodies) that it just cannot be the sole source to be considered when grant projects and institutions or scientists are evaluated. Scientists are becoming more and more vocal in their criticism of the IF. A beautiful succinct one-page statement was recently published in Nature, in which the author writes, \u201cWhen we believe that we will be judged by silly criteria, we will adapt and behave in silly ways.\u201d<sup>16<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">What, then, should be asked of authors and editors if we want our journals to have strong IFs? What would a positive role model for a growing IF look like?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Advice for Authors <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">\u201cWe have to realize that journals have a good IF because they bring good science as a result of meticulous work of editors and reviewers who help to pick and improve the good articles, and not vice versa, <em>i.e.<\/em>, not that an article is good because it was accepted in a journal with a high IF.\u201d<sup>17<\/sup> Authors should view the IF with this idea in mind. For a manuscript to be picked by an editor, it has to be based on broad critical reading and thinking, have a solid hypothesis, and a question whose answer will matter; in addition, authors should be open to improving the manuscript based on comments of knowledgeable reviewers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Above all, authors write to be read<sup>18<\/sup>; this simple statement is the essence of the art in science. Authors write not for citations, but because they want to communicate what they have found, and they should communicate it well. Excellent resources exist that explain how authors should prepare a good manuscript for submission to a scholarly journal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Good research questions and \u201cschools of science\u201d can only be generated in a stimulating working atmosphere and under a wise leadership. This can have a profound effect on manuscript quality (and thus potentially a stronger IF), as shown recently by Berka et al.<sup>19<\/sup> They found, for example, positive correlations between communication methods among team members, conference presentations, team diversity, recommendations of reviewers, and manuscript quality. In a small research team of two to four members, face-toface communication during the research project proved to be the most efficient. If necessary, this can take the form of phone calls, internet-based audio or video conferences, or email messages. These data indicate that people responsible for the advancement of science, for example, directors and professors, should invest energy in team building at an appropriate stage of research projects. A good team with strong communication can take the first step toward producing effective manuscripts that help to ensure that there is no waste in the publishing system described by Shashok.<sup>20<\/sup> The need for institution leaders with visions for future needs and sound research projects is even more obvious in light of these findings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Advice for Editors <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">For editors, the IF is an important and useful tool, showing the quality of their work based on the frequency of citations of their journal\u2019s articles. Editors want their journals to be of high quality. As a side benefit, this also improves the IF. Since most editors are hired and paid by publishing houses, the commercial aspect of IFs is important as well. Editors whose journals have not yet received an IF can do much to make their journal more attractive by educating authors to publish more innovative research. Journals from all over the world, namely African and South American journals as well as those from Asian countries, should apply for acceptance into the appropriate index. More journal diversity is desirable, for example, in such specialized fields as ethnography, linguistics, architecture, and history. Editors worldwide should improve their journals continuously, and by having them included in Thomson Reuter\u2019s databases (and obtaining an IF), they will eventually succeed in bringing much more diversity and recognition of science from all over the world into the system. Clearly, different cultures and traditions should be respected in science as well. To paraphrase Zetterstr\u00f6m,<sup>13<\/sup> scientific work has to be distributed worldwide to preserve the diversity of scientific progress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>It Is a New World<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Without question, the publishing industry has changed dramatically in recent years. How have these changes affected the IF?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Online-Early Articles <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Many journals today publish online-early articles, with the article posted online as soon as the copyedited and typeset version is ready (or, for some journals, as soon as the article is accepted) and then included later as part of an issue. The article can be cited as soon as it is published online. But what if the article is published online-early in one year and again as part of an issue, either online or in print, in the following year? How does that affect the IF calculation?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">James Testa explained (personal communication) that Thomson Reuters prefers the simplicity that occurs when an article is published online-early and within an issue in the same year. However, when that does not happen, the date that Thomson Reuters counts in the numerator of the IF calculation (the number of citations) is whichever date the citing authors have used in their reference list. For example, if article X was published online-early in December 2013 and is published in that journal\u2019s January 2014 issue, and if article Y cites the 2013 online-early publication in their reference list, that is the date Thomson Reuters will count. If article Y cites the 2014 article from the January issue, Thomson Reuters will add the citation to the 2014 number.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Online-Only Journals <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Not so long ago, \u201cjournal\u201d meant articles printed on paper and bound. That is not necessarily true anymore. According to information available at the Thomson Reuters website, journals that do not publish in print at all can have an IF.<sup>3<\/sup> The components that Thomson Reuters editors are looking for, which are discussed earlier in this article, have nothing to do with the method of delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><em>Social Media<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">In 2007, Chew et al<sup>21<\/sup> asked the editors of several prominent medical journals how a journal\u2019s IF could be improved. One of the answers was to boost the journal\u2019s media profile. Testa revealed (personal communication) that at the time that the article was published, that statement did not make him think of social media\u2014instead, he thought that meant sending emails to colleagues to let them know about the article. Now, though, with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc., boosting articles via social media can truly affect a journal\u2019s IF. The more you can make other researchers aware of an article published in your journal, the more citations it is likely to obtain. However, what Thomson Reuters is seeing is that social media has become the norm. Most journals are doing this and so, as Testa pointed out, \u201ca rising tide floats all boats.\u201d The number of citations is rising across the board and, along with that, the IFs are rising. However, in countries with a very high human development index, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, Jamali et al have argued that social media information and \u201clikes\u201d are merely indicators of popularity, not of credibility and quality of scientific work.<sup>22<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>Conclusion <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">The influence and importance of the IF are undeniable. Benjamin Franklin said, \u201cWithout continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.\u201d<sup>23<\/sup> So, too, should editors strive for continual growth and progress for their individual journals. If we achieve that, the Impact Factor will follow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"><strong>Acknowledgments <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">We would like to acknowledge Joan Marsh, President of the European Association of Science Editors, for commenting on a draft of this article.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Table 1. Guidelines for preparing your journal for submission to TR to be evaluated for WoS inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<table align=\"center\" border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"1\" cellspacing=\"1\" style=\"width:500px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Steps<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Process<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Considerations<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Establish <strong>timeliness<\/strong>.<br \/>Submit a minimum of<br \/>3 consecutive current<br \/>issues of the journal.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Submit issues one at a time, as they are\u00a0published, so the TR editor considering\u00a0your application can see the journal is\u00a0publishing on time according to its stated\u00a0schedule. Format can be print and\/or\u00a0online (for online journals that are not\u00a0issue based, the editor looks for a steady\u00a0flow of articles over a 9-month period).\u00a0The total number of published articles\u00a0during this time frame should be appropriate\u00a0for the journal\u2019s WoS category.\u00a0Issues should be sent until the evaluation\u00a0process is concluded.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p>These issues provide\u00a0the TR editor with\u00a0the journal content\u00a0as well as establishing<br \/>timeliness of publication, which is a major consideration for acceptance. Wait to apply if the journal is a new launch and insufficient content could affect timeliness.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Establish <strong>international<br \/>editorial conventions<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ensure journal content is retrievable. TR\u00a0editors will evaluate whether the journal\u00a0content has informative journal titles,\u00a0fully descriptive article titles and author<br \/>abstracts, complete bibliographic information\u00a0for all cited references, and full\u00a0address information for every author<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">This information<br \/>should be published\u00a0in English.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Publish the <strong>full text<br \/>of the content in<br \/>English<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Publish the full text of the articles in English\u00a0to serve an international research community.\u00a0Some exceptions apply, but all\u00a0bibliographic and reference information<br \/>should be published in English.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Establish the journal has<br \/>a <strong>peer-review<\/strong> process<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Provide information on the journal\u2019s\u00a0peer-review process, which indicates overall\u00a0quality<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Include funding<br \/>acknowledgements for\u00a0all articles.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some publishers feel including funding\u00a0acknowledgments<br \/>can be a deciding\u00a0factor for STM\u00a0journals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Establish need for your\u00a0<strong>editorial content<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Review the other journals in your field that<br \/>are already indexed in WoS. Your journal\u2019s<br \/>content should enrich the database.<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">TR will not add\u00a0a journal if the\u00a0content is already<br \/>adequately covered\u00a0in the index.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Establish <strong>international<br \/>diversity<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: justify;\">Invite authors, editors, and Editorial Board<br \/>members who represent the international<br \/>community. Content should enrich coverage\u00a0of a topic or provide an important<br \/>regional perspective.<\/td>\n<td>TR does include a\u00a0small number of\u00a0regional journals\u00a0each year that target\u00a0local audiences.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Establish <strong>citations<\/strong> for\u00a0analysis.<\/td>\n<td>For new journals, bring in an editor and<br \/>Editorial Board who are well cited themselves.\u00a0Invite papers from well-cited<br \/>authors. Ask the board members to\u00a0write for the inaugural issues and invite\u00a0their colleagues to write, too. Use press\u00a0releases to raise the profile of the journal,\u00a0which may raise highly cited authors\u2019\u00a0interest in submitting to a journal that\u00a0does not yet have an IF.<\/td>\n<td>Self-citation rates are\u00a0analyzed by the<br \/>TR editors. Ensure\u00a0these are within\u00a0acceptable parameters\u00a0(see Testa).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Provide registered <strong>ISSN<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<\/td>\n<td>Both the electronic<br \/>and print ISSNs\u00a0will be required, if\u00a0applicable.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<p>1. Garfield E. The agony and the ecstasy\u2014the history and meaning of the journal impact factor. <a href=\"http:\/\/garfield.library.upenn.edu\/papers\/jifchicago2005.pdf\">http:\/\/garfield.library.upenn.edu\/papers\/jifchicago2005.pdf<\/a> Accessed March 14, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>2. Institute for Scientific Information. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Institute_for_Scientific_Information\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Institute_for_Scientific_Information<\/a>. Accessed March 14, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>3. Testa J. The Thomson Reuters journal selection process. <a href=\"http:\/\/wokinfo.com\/essays\/journal-selection-process\/\">http:\/\/wokinfo.com\/essays\/journal-selection-process\/<\/a>. Accessed March 5, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>4. Nicholson D. (2011, February 20). Your starter for ten: an interview with Jim Testa, VP Editorial Development. <a href=\"http:\/\/exchanges.wiley.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/20\/your-starter-for-ten-an-interview-with-jim-testa-vp-editorial-development-and-publisher-relations-at-thompson-reuters-isi-web-of-science\/\">http:\/\/exchanges.wiley.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/20\/your-starter-for-ten-an-interview-with-jim-testa-vp-editorial-development-and-publisher-relations-at-thompson-reuters-isi-web-of-science\/<\/a>. Accessed March 9, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>5. Thomson Reuters. <a href=\"http:\/\/thomsonreuters.com\/en\/products-services\/scholarly-scientific-research\/scholarly-search-and-discovery\/web-of-science.html\">http:\/\/thomsonreuters.com\/en\/products-services\/scholarly-scientific-research\/scholarly-search-and-discovery\/web-of-science.html<\/a>. Accessed March 14, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>6. Hern\u00e1n MA, Wilcox AJ. We are number one but nobody cares\u2014that\u2019s good. Epidemiology. 2012;23(4):509. <a href=\"http:\/\/pt.wkhealth.com\/pt\/re\/lwwgateway\/landingpage.htm;jsessionid=VjyNw17xWhTQvm5cnnWbJTjC9DrQHm5cQ1ng3J6sk6QKS2yzkCrG!1065564757!181195628!8091!-1?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&amp;an=00001648-201207000-00001\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>7. The University of Minnesota Administrative Policy. <a href=\"http:\/\/policy.umn.edu\/Policies\/Operations\/Compliance\/UPOLICY.html\">http:\/\/policy.umn.edu\/Policies\/Operations\/Compliance\/UPOLICY.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>8. Business Dictionary. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessdictionary.com\/definition\/standard-operating-procedure-SOP..html\">http:\/\/www.businessdictionary.com\/definition\/standard-operating-procedure-SOP..html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>9. Record-keeping guidelines. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ombudsman.wa.gov.au\/Publications\/Documents\/guidelines\/Good-record-keeping-Guidelines.pdf\">http:\/\/www.ombudsman.wa.gov.au\/Publications\/Documents\/guidelines\/Good-record-keeping-Guidelines.pdf<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>10. Hames I. The future of peer review. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ease.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/irene_hames_the_future_of_peer_review_september_2013.pdf\">http:\/\/www.ease.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/irene_hames_the_future_of_peer_review_september_2013.pdf<\/a>. Accessed April 25, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>11. Mehrmann J. Building customer loyalty. <a href=\"http:\/\/ezinearticles.com\/?Building-Customer-Loyalty&amp;id=329074\">http:\/\/ezinearticles.com\/?Building-Customer-Loyalty&amp;id=329074<\/a>. Accessed April 25, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>12. Hames I. Peer Review and Manuscript Management in Scientific Journals. Oxford, England: Blackwell; 2007. P. 17.<\/p>\n<p>13. Zetterstr\u00f6m R. Bibliometric data: a disaster for many non-American biomedical journals. Acta Paediatr. 2001;91(10):1020\u20131024. <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1651-2227.2002.tb00091.x\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>14. Martin BR. Whither research integrity? Plagiarism, self-plagiarism and coercive citation in an age of research assessment. Res Policy. 2013;42(5): 1005\u20131014. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S004873331300067X\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>15. Golubic R, Rudes M, Kovacic N, Marusic M, Marusic A. Calculating impact factor: how bibliographical classification of journal items affects the impact factor of large and small journals. Sci Eng Ethics. 2007;14(1):41\u201349. <a href=\"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007%2Fs11948-007-9044-3\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>16. Werner R. The focus on bibliometrics makes papers less useful. Nature. 2015;517(7534):245. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/the-focus-on-bibliometrics-makes-papers-less-useful-1.16706\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>17.\u00a0\u0160p\u00e1la M. Impakt factor\u2014dobr\u00fd sluha, ale \u0161patn\u00fd p\u00e1n [Impact factor\u2014a good servant but a bad master].\u00a0<em>Cas Lek Cesk<\/em>. 2006;145(1):69\u201378.<\/p>\n<p>18. Sterken C. Writing a scientific paper: the writing process. In: Sterken C, ed.\u00a0<em>Scientific Writing for Young Astronomers &#8211; Part 1<\/em>. EAS Publication Series; 2011;50:1\u201363.<\/p>\n<p>19. Berka G, Olien J, Rogelberg SG, Rupp DE,\u00a0Thornton MA. An inductive exploration of manuscript quality and publication success in small research teams.\u00a0<em>J\u00a0Business Psychol<\/em>. 2014;29(4):725\u2013731.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1007\/s10869-014-9373-6\" title=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1007\/s10869-014-9373-6\">CrossRef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>20.\u00a0Shashok K. Author\u2019s editors in the 21st century: \u00adpromoters of publication quality and efficiency.\u00a0<em>Eur Sci Editing<\/em>. 2014;40:60\u201362.<\/p>\n<p>21. Chew M, Villanueva EV, Van Der Weyden\u00a0MB. Life and times of the impact factor: retrospec\u00adtive analysis of trends for seven medical journals (1994\u20132005) and their Editors\u2019 views.\u00a0<em>J R Soc Med.\u00a0<\/em>2007;100:142\u201350.<\/p>\n<p>22. Jamali HR, Nicholas D, Watkinson A, et al. How scholars implement trust in their reading, \u00adciting and publishing activities: geographical differences.\u00a0<em>Libr Info Sci Res<\/em>. 2015;36:192\u2013202.<\/p>\n<p>23. Wisdom quotes.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wisdomquotes.com\/quote\/benjamin-franklin-16.html\" title=\"http:\/\/www.wisdomquotes.com\/quote\/benjamin-franklin-16.html\">http:\/\/www.\u00adwisdomquotes.com\/quote\/benjamin-franklin-16.html<\/a>. Accessed April 25, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editage Insights works with ISMTE to bring great content to editors in the publishing industry. Once a month, Editage Insights shares the Editor&#8217;s Choice article from ISMTE&#8217;s member-only newsletter. Here&#8217;s ISMTE&#8217;s featured article for August, reproduced with permission. The very words \u201cImpact Factor\u201d can send a shiver of fear through the spines of many journal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2421],"tags":[1718,2485],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[2841],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-understanding-the-impact-factor","tag-journal-impact-factor","tag-research-impact","series-impact-factor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The impact factor: For better or for worse | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The very words \u201cImpact Factor\u201d can send a shiver of fear through the spines of 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