Evaluating Journal Impact Factor: a systematic survey of the pros and cons, and overview of alternative measures

• Published in: Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Eugene Mech, Muhammad Muneeb Ahmed, Edward Tamale, Matthew Holek, Guowei Li, Lehana Thabane
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SciELO 2020
• Subjects: Journal Impact Factor; Bibliometrics; Alternative metrics; Citations and impact; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Toxicology. Poisons; RA1190-1270; Zoology; QL1-991; Arctic; Prisma
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-jvatitd-2019-0082; https://doaj.org/article/3daab8b05a174a90946a3b0fe650f530

Abstract Background: Journal Impact Factor (JIF) has several intrinsic flaws, which highlight its inability to adequately measure citation distributions or indicate journal quality. Despite these flaws, JIF is still widely used within the academic community, resulting in the propagation of potential...