Kam PCA "Impact Factor: Overrated and misused?" ANAESTHESIA AND INTENSIVE CARE 33 (5): 565-566 OCT 2005

[Eugene Garfield]

E-MAIL : PCA Kam :  pkam at usyd.edu.au

Title: Impact factor: Overrated and misused?

Author(s): Kam PCA

Source: ANAESTHESIA AND INTENSIVE CARE 33 (5): 565-566 OCT 2005

Document Type: Editorial Material
Language: English
Cited References: 9      Times Cited: 0

Addresses: Kam PCA (reprint author), Univ New S Wales, Dept Anaesthesia, St
George Hosp, Kogarah, NSW Australia
Univ New S Wales, Dept Anaesthesia, St George Hosp, Kogarah, NSW Australia

E-mail Addresses: pkam at usyd.edu.au

Publisher: AUSTRALIAN SOC ANAESTHETISTS, P O BOX 600, EDGECLIFF, NSW 2021,
AUSTRALIA
Subject Category: ANESTHESIOLOGY; CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
IDS Number: 987HU
ISSN: 0310-057X


EXCERPT FROM PAPER :
“In this issue of the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Bain and Myles have
assessed the relationship between impact factor and publication type with
respect to evidence-based medicine level in anaesthesia.  They found that ,
although the evidence of human studies published in anaesthesia journals
was high, there was no correlation between the evidence-based medicine
level of publication in an anaesthesia journal and the impact factor of
that journal.  This suggests that the impact factor does not reflect a
journal’s quality if evidence-based medicine is considered to be a measure
of scientific quality.  However, these two studies were limited by the use
of publications from a six-month (in 2000) or one-year period (in 2003).

The impact factor is therefore a useful measure of the quality of
scientific journals, but on its own provides a very limited idea on the
extent to which the papers are useful for clinical relevance and daily
practice.  Alternative bibliometric measures (such as citation half life,
the total number of citations, “electronic hit data”) should also be
considered.  More attention should be given to the clinical relevance and
social impact of research in all medical journals.

Measuring something as subjective as the quality of the written word is as
fraught with dangers as attempting to measure beauty.”

CITED REFERENCES :
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Relationship between journal impact factor and levels of evidence in
anaesthesia
ANAESTHESIA AND INTENSIVE CARE 33 : 567 2005

 FASSOULAKI A
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 GARFIELD E
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Sprucing up one's impact factor
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 GREENE NM
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 PATSOPOULOS NA
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