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Enregistrement W2054475857 · doi:10.1177/0883073808331366

Impact Factor Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back

2009· editorial· en· W2054475857 sur OpenAlexaboutno aff
Roger A. Brumback

Notice bibliographique

RevueJournal of Child Neurology · 2009
Typeeditorial
Langueen
DomaineDecision Sciences
Thématiquescientometrics and bibliometrics research
Établissements canadiensnon disponible
Organismes subventionnairesnon disponible
Mots-clésEmpireFactor (programming language)PsychologyHistoryPsychoanalysisAncient historyComputer science

Résumé

récupéré en direct d'OpenAlex

T oo bad it is not ‘‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . ’’ Instead, it is the 21st century and European, Canadian, and American scientists are now in the grips of a menace that threatens their livelihood: the journal impact factor (a proprietary calculation based on journal citations and produced by the monolithic news and information empire Thomson Reuters) is being used in many places to determine academic employment, rank, tenure, and funding. In the past, few voices have protested the abusive power associated with journal impact factor, and publishers generally shrank in terror at the prospect of their journals being subjected to the ‘‘death penalty’’—removal from the Thomson Reuters journal impact factor listing. However, in 2007, the Executive Director of the powerful Rockefeller University Press, along with the Executive Editors of the Journal of Experimental Medicine and the Journal of Cell Biology, courageously questioned the validity and reliability of the journal impact factor calculations. These editorials (by Mike Rossner, Heather Van Epps, and Emma Hill) emboldened others to voice concerns about the use of an unverifiable and proprietary metric—journal impact factor—to evaluate the quality of scientific work. In the initial 1977 film (now designated ‘‘Episode IV’’) of the epic Star Wars movie series by George Lucas, the Galactic Empire uses a lethal show of force (the Death Star) to destroy the relatively insignificant planet Alderaan in order to frighten the rest of the galactic inhabitants (particularly those on the larger planets) into submission. Apparently, Thomson Reuters has decided to use a similar tactic: wielding its enormous power in a show of force against a tiny journal. As has been widely described, the journal impact factor is calculated by summing the total citations during a given year to articles published in the previous 2 years and dividing this by the number of ‘‘items’’ (a number derived secretively by Thomson Reuters) published in the journal during that same 2-year period. The ability of journal editors and publishers (particularly large and influential ones) to manipulate (and negotiate) the journal impact factor to achieve higher values has been well documented. Unfortunately, journals from small subspecialty fields are at a distinct disadvantage with fewer articles for possible citation, a smaller population of investigators, and little leverage to finagle higher journal impact factor values. Nonetheless, 2 clever scientists, Harm K. Schutte and Jan G. Svec, who work in a small scientific field published in the year 2007 an editorial in the official organ of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP)—Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica (published by S. Karger AG, Basel)—in which they cited all 66 articles published in that journal during the years 2005 and 2006. This strategy of self-citation raised the journal impact factor from a value of 0.655 for 2006 to 1.439 for 2007 and jumped the journal’s ranking by 9 places in the subject category of ‘‘Rehabilitation’’ (which only contains 27 journals). For investigators whose only scholarly outlet is publishing in this journal, such changes in journal status could profoundly affect their ability to compete for an academic livelihood. This permutation probably would have gone unnoticed but for a letter published in the September 11, 2008, issue of Nature. Subsequent reaction by Thomson Reuters was swift: just 4 weeks later on October 9, 2008, in Nature, James Testa reported that self-citation is ‘‘reviewed each year’’ and that journals will be removed from Journal Citation Reports until the ‘‘problem of excessive self-citation resolves and we can publish an accurate impact factor.’’ One strategy by journal editors to manipulate the journal impact factor has been to demand that authors cite articles from recent years of the journal (ie, self-citation). Thomson Reuters does not provide any criteria for acceptable self-citation, although it has been reported that up to 20% self-citation is common in most journals listed in the Journal Citation Reports. Received December 29, 2008. Accepted for publication December 29, 2008.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.

Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier

Prédiction distillée sur la base complète

Imitation des enseignants

Ni prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Apprise à partir de 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et de 10 348 étiquettes directes de Gemma. Le mode candidate est l'union des têtes enseignantes seuillées; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont ni des étiquettes humaines ni des étiquettes directes de modèles de pointe.

score de la tête « metaresearch » (Codex)0,016
score de la tête « metaresearch » (Gemma)0,097
Version: codex-gemma-dda1882f352aStatut de validation: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Catégories candidatesMétarecherche, Bibliométrie, Communication savante, Science ouverte, Intégrité de la recherche, Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger)
Catégories consensuellesBibliométrie, Intégrité de la recherche
DomaineSignal candidat: aucune · Signal consensuel: aucune
Devis d'étudeSignal candidat: Sans objet · Signal consensuel: Sans objet
GenreSignal candidat: Éditorial · Signal consensuel: Éditorial
Score de désaccord entre enseignants0,081
Score d'incertitude au seuil1,000

Scores Codex et Gemma par catégorie

CatégorieCodexGemma
Métarecherche0,0160,097
Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict)0,0000,000
Méta-épidémiologie (sens large)0,0010,001
Bibliométrie0,0460,054
Études des sciences et des technologies0,0000,000
Communication savante0,0020,001
Science ouverte0,0080,001
Intégrité de la recherche0,0010,006
Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger)0,0020,000

Scores machine (provisoires)

Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.

Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.

Tête enseignante Opus0,293
Tête enseignante GPT0,542
Écart entre enseignants0,248 · la distance entre les deux têtes enseignantes sur ce seul travail
Statut de validationscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découle

Classification

machine, non validée

Prédiction automatique; les deux têtes enseignantes s’accordent sur ce qui est montré ici.

Devis d'étudeSans objet
Domainenon disponible
GenreÉditorial

Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».

En bref

Citations47
Publié2009
Routes d'admission1
Résumé présentoui

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