Indexing of journal is the parameter of the standard of Journals, whereas some of the leading Journals finds no place in the indexing, which really having an impact on scholars. Only journals with online publications are part of this system. Do you think that the journals of high reputation publish in print editions only has no impact ....?
Indexing of a journal can not be considered as a parameter, however Impact factor has always been the parameter to judge the quality of a research journal. Indexing is a better means to increase the visibility of a journal and there is no harm if it takes us to publish the journal in electronic or in hybrid form. After all what is the point in having research results if people are not able to access such results and make use of them.
Open citation indexing platforms like google scholar, PubMed etc have broken the monopoly of some leading propriety citation indexing services. with the further advancement and exploitation of technology newer platforms are bound to grow further, like the one we are discussing right now and the good journals may themselves find place on such platforms.
Nothing can "really reflect" anything. This is a longstanding philosophical issue of 'representation'. (Metaphysically, God's self-reflection would be the only exception).
As George says, impact factor is one of few parameters with significant number of people accepting and using it. Glenn is absolutely right about relative value of IF. I dare to say that even the "impact-over-time" factor is problematic.
For example, in social science and humanities, some indexes are using a 5-year IF. In my view, even 5 years do not reflect well (and do not do justice) the impact of these slow-paced fields. For example, in the field of social science and education, all technology related journals are getting to the top of the indexes. It is rather sad to see this.
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