Impact Factor Data: Editorial & Rebuttal

January 2, 2008 on 3:01 pm | In Science News & Hot Topics |

Show me the data (Rossner M, Van Epps H, Hill E)
Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 179, No. 6, 1091-1092

The integrity of data, and transparency about their acquisition, are vital to science. The impact factor data that are gathered and sold by Thomson Scientific (formerly the Institute of Scientific Information, or ISI) have a strong influence on the scientific community, affecting decisions on where to publish, whom to promote or hire, the success of grant applications, and even salary bonuses. Yet, members of the community seem to have little understanding of how impact factors are determined, and, to our knowledge, no one has independently audited the underlying data to validate their reliability.

Thomson Scientific Corrects Inaccuracies in Editorial (Pendlebury DA)

A recent editorial in the Journal of Cell Biology by Rossner, Van Epps, and Hill argues that Thomson Scientific’s impact factor measure for the evaluation of journals should not be trusted since an article data set purchased from Thomson by The Rockefeller University Press did not exactly replicate the Journal Citation Reports data for its own — and selected other — journals.

When these data were questioned by The Rockefeller University Press, Thomson staff explained precisely the content of the data, as well as its derivation and use. Unfortunately for the readers of the Rossner editorial, the authors misunderstood much and as a result, misled readers about several matters, not only regarding the data but what Thomson representatives did and said from June to September 2007 in many email exchanges.

Rossner is Executive Director of the Rockefeller University Press, Van Epps is Executive Editor of Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Hill is Executive Editor of Journal of Cell Biology. Pendlebury is with the Research Services Group at Thomson Scientific.