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Comparative Study
. 2003 Jan;91(1):42-6.

Impact factor: a valid measure of journal quality?

Somnath Saha  1 , Sanjay Saint, Dimitri A Christakis
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Impact factor: a valid measure of journal quality?

Somnath Saha et al. J Med Libr Assoc. 2003 Jan.

Abstract

Objectives: Impact factor, an index based on the frequency with which a journal's articles are cited in scientific publications, is a putative marker of journal quality. However, empiric studies on impact factor's validity as an indicator of quality are lacking. The authors assessed the validity of impact factor as a measure of quality for general medical journals by testing its association with journal quality as rated by clinical practitioners and researchers.

Methods: We surveyed physicians specializing in internal medicine in the United States, randomly sampled from the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfile (practitioner group, n = 113) and from a list of graduates from a national postdoctoral training program in clinical and health services research (research group, n = 151). Respondents rated the quality of nine general medical journals, and we assessed the correlation between these ratings and the journals' impact factors.

Results: The correlation between impact factor and physicians' ratings of journal quality was strong (r2 = 0.82, P = 0.001). The correlation was higher for the research group (r2 = 0.83, P = 0.001) than for the practitioner group (r2 = 0.62, P = 0.01).

Conclusions: Impact factor may be a reasonable indicator of quality for general medical journals.

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Figures

None
Figure 1 Calculating impact factor
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation of impact factor with journal quality ratings
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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