Reliability of journal impact factor rankings
BMC Medical Research MethodologyPublished 15 November 2007Open access
Darren C. Greenwood
Citations70
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.67
SNIP1.73
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
Decisions placed on journal impact factors are potentially misleading where the uncertainty associated with the measure is ignored. This article proposes that caution should be exercised in the interpretation of journal impact factors and their ranks, and specifically that a measure of uncertainty should be routinely presented alongside the point estimate.
Keywords
Decision Sciences
Markov Chain Monte Carlo in Practice
7,730 Citations1995Walter R. Gilks, Sylvia Richardson +1 more
Journal of Computational and Graphical StatisticsGeneral Methods for Monitoring Convergence of Iterative Simulations
6,073 Citations1998Stephen P. Brooks, Andrew Gelman
This work generalizes the method proposed by Gelman and Rubin (1992a) for monitoring the convergence of iterative simulations by comparing between and within variances of multiple chains, in order to obtain a family of tests for convergence.
ScienceCitation Analysis as a Tool in Journal Evaluation
2,760 Citations1972Eugene Garfield
In 1971, the Institute for Scientfic Information decided to undertake a systematic analysis of journal citation patterns across the whole of science and technology.
Journal of Computational and Graphical StatisticsGeneral Methods for Monitoring Convergence of Iterative Simulations
2,010 Citations1998Stephen P. Brooks, Andrew Gelman
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society)League Tables and Their Limitations: Statistical Issues in Comparisons of Institutional Performance
1,061 Citations1996Harvey Goldstein, David J. Spiegelhalter
The paper emphasizes that statistical methods exist which can contribute to an understanding of the extent and possible reasons for differences between institutions and urges caution by discussing the limitations of such methods.
Journal of the American Society for Information ScienceThe skewness of science
697 Citations1992Per O. Seglen
The citational variability between articles in a journal is less (semilog linearity) than in the corresponding field as a whole, suggesting that each journal represents a select, stratified sample of the field.
International Journal of EpidemiologyCitation indexes for science. A new dimension in documentation through association of ideas†
502 Citations2006Eugene Garfield
The uncritical citation of disputed data by a writer, whether it be deliberate or not, is a serious matter and critical notes are increasingly likely to be overlooked with the passage of time.
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society)Performance Indicators: Good, Bad, and Ugly
379 Citations2004Sheila M. Bird, Cox Sir David +4 more
JAMAUniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
362 Citations1997Linda Hawes Clever, Lois Ann Colaianni +11 more
The fifth edition of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals is an effort to reorganize and reword the fourth edition to increase clarity and address concerns about rights, privacy, descriptions of methods, and other matters.
Multilevel Modelling of Health Statistics
308 Citations2001Alastair H. Leyland, Harvey Goldstein
Repeated measures, outliers, institutional performance, and spatial analysis, which have great relevance to health and medical research, are all examined for multilevel models.
BMJReliability of league tables of in vitro fertilisation clinics: retrospective analysis of live birth ratesCommentary: How robust are rankings? The implications of confidence intervals
245 Citations1998E. C. Marshall, Colin Sanderson +2 more
Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on live birth rate after in vitro fertilisation found institutional ranks are extremely unreliable statistical summaries of performance and change in performance, particularly for smaller institutions.
BMC Medical Research MethodologyThe level of non-citation of articles within a journal as a measure of quality: a comparison to the impact factor
156 Citations2004A R Weale, Mick Bailey +1 more
This study assesses the distribution of citations to articles and uses the level of non-citation of articles within a journal as a measure of quality to create a clear distinction between how citation analysis is used to determine the quality of a journal and an individual article.
International Journal of EpidemiologyCommentary: The power of the unrelenting impact factor—Is it a force for good or harm?
123 Citations2006Richard Smith
The impact factor that was born in this article has done little to reduce the citation of fraudulent data and may well have encouraged such citations.
Journal of Information ScienceA critical review of the application of citation studies to the Research Assessment Exercises
71 Citations2000Julian Warner
A historically rare instance of correlation between rankings derived from citation aggregates and from real world peer review has been revealed by the studies, and the future value of citation analysis could be to inform, but not to determine, judgements of research quality.
BMJShould we ditch impact factors?
53 Citations2007Richard Hobbs
Gareth Williams and Richard Hobbs think refinement is the answer to impact factors and Gareth Williams believes the authors should get rid of them.
Journal of the American Statistical AssociationStatistical Analysis of Medical Data: New Developments
47 Citations2000MTW, Barry J. Everitt +1 more
This collection of articles highlights four areas of active research in medical statistics: survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian methods, and imaging.
BMJQuality of impact factors of general medical journals
43 Citations2003K.S. Joseph
Citation based impact factors and rankings of leading general medical journals have changed substantially in recent years, and this seems to have been associated—unexpectedly—with simultaneous changes in publication volume.
BMJShould we ditch impact factors?
33 Citations2007Gareth Williams
Gareth Williams and Richard Hobbs think refinement is the answer to impact factors and Gareth Williams believes the authors should get rid of them.
British Journal of Clinical PharmacologyJournal impact factors: a ‘bioequivalence’ issue?
22 Citations2001Amin Rostami‐Hodjegan, GT Tucker
Investigation of citation profiles for three clinical pharmacology journals found IMF does not represent the impact of an individual paper and if the comparison of journals is treated as a bioequivalence issue, the citation data should be log transformed prior to calculating IMF such that they represent the likelihood of citation for the median article.
International Journal of EpidemiologyCommentary: The ‘bibliographic impact factor’ and the still uncharted sociology of epidemiology
18 Citations2006Miquel Porta, Esteve Fernández +1 more
BMJQuality of impact factors of general medical journals
9 Citations2003Miquel Porta
Results of the analysis by Joseph add new data and a remarkable twist to existing knowledge on weaknesses in the accuracy of the data that the Institute for Scientific Information uses and are a reminder that the impact factor is often not the scientometric indicator of choice.
Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)Citation analysis [3]
4 Citations1975Joyce A. Arditti
