Each of the means you've pointed out are simply disparate systems of measurement. Together, they provide a picture of a body of work. Used in isolation, they each have their merits, but the reason for different systems of measurement is because each system has its focus.

There is an assumption of rigour and process that is assumed with higher impact journals that have established strong reputations. Being published in a high IF journal can be taken as proxy for the quality of work produced, but even within journals, citation rates vary wildly.

None of these are absolute measures that produce a single number to represent the quality of research output, which is why a few are typically used in tandem to arrive at decisions regarding grant/tenure/employment, etc...

Hi,

The indexing of an article, or its impact factor does not promise its consistency. There are papers that are "classic" and consistent, and those that are ephemeral. It depends on area of research, publication date, and other variables that make the article consistent, not necessarily its IF.

Hi,

I agree with Peter that IF is not calculated for a single article (although it can be done..), since it is an  indicator that measures journals. But the number of citations to an article are sometimes, erroneously, are taken as a measure of its impact. However, citations' relevancy and motivations , if taken into account, could show that even citations are not always a reliable indicator of the paper's impact.

I think a real scientist does not care these things rather than to publish something interesting and useful for the scientific community. There are several papers which published in low impact journals but they became the base of the some really emerging technologies. But in general, as Peter said, due to strict inspection , the high impact journals consider the high quality presentation of research.

Hi,

Very many thanks to you all for the insightful comments. Could you kindly edify me further on "predatory open access journals"? Who qualifies them as such and on what basis? How can they be identified, or what hints to avoid them?

Dear Dr Peter Kapusta

Thanks for the precisions.

hello doctor see this link 

 https://scholarlyoa.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/criteria-2015.pdf)

Hi 

Article Comparison among journal impact factor, SCimago journal rank...

Dear Basima Jasim,

Thanks for your update on this question.

Regards.