Do journal impact factors distort science?

From my inbox:
An ad hoc coalition of unlikely insurgents -- scientists, journal editors and publishers, scholarly societies, and research funders across many scientific disciplines -- today posted an international declaration calling on the world scientific community to eliminate the role of the journal impact factor (JIF) in evaluating research for funding, hiring, promotion, or institutional effectiveness.
Here's the rest of the story at Science Daily:

And a link to DORA, the "ad hoc coalition" in question.

It seems fairly obvious that impact factors do distort science.  But I wonder how much, and I also wonder if there are realistic alternatives that would do a better job of encouraging good science.

There are delicate tradeoffs here: some literatures seem to become mired within their own dark corners, forming small circles of scholars that speak a common language.  They review each others' work, sometimes because no one else can understand it, or sometimes because no one else cares to understand it.  The circle has high regard for itself, but the work is pointless to those residing outside of it.

At the same time, people obviously have very different ideas about what constitutes good science.

So, what does the right model for evaluating science look like?

Comments

  1. Hello,

    My name is Sam Marquit, I am an independent ‘green’ contractor and co-author of Fair Marquit Value I am wondering if you’re interested in featuring me on your blog because I would love a chance to speak with your readers about the idea of environmentally responsible tourism as it's applied in modern day travel and stay.

    If you think this topic, or any other for that matter, would be of interest to your readers, please let me know and I can begin drafting up something that I believe will mesh with your blog very well.

    I look forward to hearing back from you; hopefully we can work together on spreading the word on important topics like this as they relate to environmental awareness!

    I look forward to hearing from you,

    Sam

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nonlinear Temperature Effects Indicate Severe Damages to U.S. Crop Yields Under Climate Change

Commodity Prices and the Fed