The Impact Factor Fallacy
The use of the journal impact factor (JIF) as a measure for the quality of individual manuscripts and the merits of scientists has faced significant criticism in recent years. We add to the current criticism in arguing that such an application of the JIF in policy and decision making in academia is...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01487/full |
| _version_ | 1818209906448138240 |
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| author | Frieder M. Paulus Nicole Cruz Nicole Cruz Sören Krach |
| author_facet | Frieder M. Paulus Nicole Cruz Nicole Cruz Sören Krach |
| author_sort | Frieder M. Paulus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of the journal impact factor (JIF) as a measure for the quality of individual manuscripts and the merits of scientists has faced significant criticism in recent years. We add to the current criticism in arguing that such an application of the JIF in policy and decision making in academia is based on false beliefs and unwarranted inferences. To approach the problem, we use principles of deductive and inductive reasoning to illustrate the fallacies that are inherent to using journal-based metrics for evaluating the work of scientists. In doing so, we elaborate that if we judge scientific quality based on the JIF or other journal-based metrics we are either guided by invalid or weak arguments or in fact consider our uncertainty about the quality of the work and not the quality itself. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T05:08:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d0fea0378db9495e9b52878d425055d5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T05:08:09Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-d0fea0378db9495e9b52878d425055d52022-12-22T00:37:03ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-08-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.01487324900The Impact Factor FallacyFrieder M. Paulus0Nicole Cruz1Nicole Cruz2Sören Krach3Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Social Neuroscience Lab, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, GermanyDepartment of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United KingdomLaboratoire CHArt, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, FranceDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Social Neuroscience Lab, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, GermanyThe use of the journal impact factor (JIF) as a measure for the quality of individual manuscripts and the merits of scientists has faced significant criticism in recent years. We add to the current criticism in arguing that such an application of the JIF in policy and decision making in academia is based on false beliefs and unwarranted inferences. To approach the problem, we use principles of deductive and inductive reasoning to illustrate the fallacies that are inherent to using journal-based metrics for evaluating the work of scientists. In doing so, we elaborate that if we judge scientific quality based on the JIF or other journal-based metrics we are either guided by invalid or weak arguments or in fact consider our uncertainty about the quality of the work and not the quality itself.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01487/fulljournal impact factorjournal rankingscientific excellenceopen accesspublishingscholarly communication |
| spellingShingle | Frieder M. Paulus Nicole Cruz Nicole Cruz Sören Krach The Impact Factor Fallacy Frontiers in Psychology journal impact factor journal ranking scientific excellence open access publishing scholarly communication |
| title | The Impact Factor Fallacy |
| title_full | The Impact Factor Fallacy |
| title_fullStr | The Impact Factor Fallacy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact Factor Fallacy |
| title_short | The Impact Factor Fallacy |
| title_sort | impact factor fallacy |
| topic | journal impact factor journal ranking scientific excellence open access publishing scholarly communication |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01487/full |
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