Pros and cons of the impact factor in a rapidly changing digital world

Michael McAleer, Judit Oláh, József Popp

The purpose of the paper is to present arguments for and against the use of the Impact Factor (IF) in a rapidly changing digital world. The paper discusses the calculation of IF, as well as the pros and cons of IF. Editorial policies that affect IF are examined, and the merits of open access online publishing are presented. Scientific quality and the IF dilemma are analysed, and alternative measures of impact and quality are evaluated. The San Francisco declaration on research assessment is also discussed.

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Year of publication:	February 2018
Authors:	McAleer, Michael ; Oláh, Judit ; Popp, József
Publisher:	Amsterdam, The Netherlands : Tinbergen Institute
Subject:	Impact Factor \| Quality of research \| Pros and Cons \| Implications \| Digital world \| Editorial policies \| Open access online publishing \| SCIE \| SSCI