From worshiping false idols and whether JCR data can be trusted--a recap!!

[Eugene Garfield]

>From worshiping false idols and whether JCR data can be trusted--a recap!!

M. Rossner, the  Executive Editor of  the Rockefeller Univ. Press 
journals  (including J Exp. Med,  J Cell Biol. And J. Gen . Physiol.)  has 
recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the methods by which the 
journal impact factor is calculated. (1)   Thomson Scientific posted a  
response to the Rossner article. (2) Subsequently, Ketchum and Crawford 
investigated his claims and came to the opposite conclusion.(3)  In the 
interim Brumback published a provocative piece(4),   which cited Rossner 
before having access to the Ketchum-Crawford analysis.

Clearly journal impact factors have become a highly controversial issue. 
We have posted all of these references to the listserv and remind  readers 
that the topic  is open to comment from anyone who wishes to contribute to 
the discussion. 

The discourse is not helped by claims that JCR has not been transparent in 
the criteria used to select journals (5) and by such ill informed 
statements that “JCR only covers a fraction of all the available 
biomedical journals(only 5,000 compared with over 33,000 that are indexed 
in Medline”.(6) Not withstanding the “laws” or facts of concentration that 
have changed very little in the past five decades. In other words, a small 
number of journals account for the vast majority of substantive papers and 
an even larger percentage of the citations. (7) 

1. Rossner, M.  Van Epps, H  and  Hill, E  "Show me the data", JOURNAL OF 
CELL BIOLOGY, 179 (6): 1091-1092 DEC 17 2007 
http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/179/6/1091

2. THOMSON SCIENTIFIC CORRECTS INACCURACIES IN EDITORIAL 
http://scientific.thomson.com/citationimpactforum/8427045/

3. Ketcham, CM and Crawford, JM " Can Impact Factor data be trusted? " 
LABORATORY INVESTIGATION, 88 (4): 340-341 APR 2008
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auth:Ketcham,CM

4.  Brumback, RA;   Worshiping False Idols: The Impact Factor Dilemma; J 
Child Neurol 2008; 23; 365
http://jcn.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/23/4/365

5. Garfield, E., How ISI Selects Journals for Coverage: Quantitative and 
Qualitative Considerations. Current Contents, May 28, 1990. 
http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v13p185y1990.pdf

6. van Driel, ML,  Maier, M  and  De Maeseneer, J . " Measuring the impact 
of family medicine research: scientific citations or societal impact?" 
FAMILY PRACTICE, 24 (5): 401-402 OCT 2007 
http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/24/5/401

7. Garfield, E., "The Mystery of the Transposed Journal List -- Wherein 
Bradford's Law of Scattering is Generalized According to Garfield's Law of 
Concentration "  Current Contents, #17, August 4, 1971, 
http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/V1p222y1962-73.pdf