Ogden, TL (Ogden, Trevor L.); Bartley, DL (Bartley, David L.) The ups and downs of journal impact factors ANNALS OF OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE, 52 (2): 73-82 MAR 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: ogden at ogs.org.uk 

Author(s): Ogden, TL (Ogden, Trevor L.); Bartley, DL (Bartley, David L.) 

Title: The ups and downs of journal impact factors 

Source: ANNALS OF OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE, 52 (2): 73-82 MAR 2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Editorial Material 

Author Keywords: citations; journal impact factor; journal quality; 
research assessment 

Keywords Plus: POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS; EXPOSURE-ASSESSMENT; 
OCCUPATIONAL-EXPOSURE; QUARTZ HAZARD; HEALTH; ENVIRONMENT; FUTURE; INDEX
 
Abstract: The journal impact factor (JIF) for The Annals of Occupational 
Hygiene rose 68% between 2005 and 2006. JIFs are widely publicized and may 
influence subscriptions and where authors submit papers, so they are much 
discussed in the publishing world. But although they tell us something 
about a journal's citation performance, their shortcomings mean that they 
are poor general indicators of journal quality, and worse guides to the 
quality of authors and their institutions. The shortcomings include the 
following. (i) The two cited years may completely misrepresent the total 
current citation rate for the journal. (ii) The short citation period (1 
year) results in many papers not contributing to the JIF, and usually two-
thirds or more of the JIF depend on the most-cited 25% of papers. (iii) 
The JIF of the journal where a paper is published is therefore a very poor 
guide to the paper's citation performance or the success of the author. 
Citation counts more specific to the author are much better. (iv) The JIF 
depends strongly on the subject of the journal, even within the published 
categories. (v) Statistical analysis shows that the relative standard 
deviation of year-to-year variation of a JIF for a journal with a JIF 
similar to 1.5 is likely to be between 10 and 20%, on top of any longer 
trend. Quotation of JIFs to three decimal places is therefore meaningless, 
and, for a journal like Annals of Occupational Hygiene, a single annual 
change of 70% could easily be due to a chance shift from a negative to 
positive fluctuation. (vi) The citations counted are not only of 
individual papers, so it is difficult to reproduce the JIF calculation. 
(vii) The selection of journals has been criticized, for example, the 
alleged emphasis on American- or English-language publications. This 
journal's JIF does not noticeably influence the number of papers submitted 
to this journal, although it may influence some important authors. JIFs in 
our field seem to be increasing by similar to 5% a year, perhaps partly 
because of the various measures which editors can take to improve them, 
some of which represent genuine improvements to the journal, but some of 
which are unethical. 

Addresses: British Occupat Hyg Soc, Annals Occupat Hyg, Derby DE24 8LZ, 
England; Annals Occupat Hyg, Cincinnati, OH 45227 USA 

Reprint Address: Ogden, TL, British Occupat Hyg Soc, Annals Occupat Hyg, 5-
6 Melbourne Business Pk,Pride Pk, Derby DE24 8LZ, England. 

E-mail Address: ogden at ogs.org.uk 

Cited Reference Count: 31 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS 

Publisher Address: GREAT CLARENDON ST, OXFORD OX2 6DP, ENGLAND 

ISSN: 0003-4878 

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