If we confide in the IF rankings, we would accept that the English is in practice the unique vehicle to write Science since a great part of IF journals are written only in English. But great part of scientific researchers talk usually other languages in which they think their contributions. Then, is Science only an English product, yes or not? I think that the correct response without doubts is "no".
Dear Colleagues
The journal impact factor is a measure of the journal reputation, neutrality and its professionalism. IF does not means that the value of the paper is scientifically high or low but it indicated the authors choice which depends on many factors.
Regards
I declare I do not have any interest nor financial guidance in this question.
An objective analysis must give more value to a scientist who develops his/her science in two or more languages, because its science is reviewed from two or more criteria. To write in a language alone could be a limitation.
I think the actual IF journals overrepresent English journals to the detriment of other languages and cultures which are not respected for the actual criterium. For this I think it is or could be an injust way to measure the Science and it has an utilitarian end to the service of other powers and interests which have not direct relation with scientific value.
An objective measure must have internal logic and external logic. I think the actual IF journals respond to an internal logic but lack of external logic. This reason justifies that IF journals ranking is not objective.
I think the IF does not measure the authors or journals Science but, in any case, measures the editorial scientific teams in an English conception.
If the IF is obtained from cites, I must say that many cites in Spanish or translations of them are lost in the way to appear in the registers. This is at least the case of Google Scholar.
We know how IF is used, though can differ in the process it is computed. I am of the view, measure the measurable if given an option, else life would be miserable. IF of late has been the paradise of few, networks and in some cases elites in research and academics. But I am sure to reach that heights, it needs good work.
Good work is necessary for all journal, also in Spanish, in or out IF rankings.
The IF rankings based on cites could give a measure of popularity, but not possibly of science. For this last thing, it is sufficient the peer review and acceptation of an article.
The IF can be manipulated by authors, for example, when they put an excessive number of irrelevant cites in their articles. Also for editors, have you not been induced to reduce cites in your submitted articles to IF journals? Yes, I have. These experiences makes me to doubt of the rigour of the IF.
If IF is recognized, the main propulsor of cites of an author is himself, his group of research, his nation. All of them seem suspictious to evaluate an author research.
Dear sir,
Thank you so much for your very very important question, I am sure that, the right answer is NO!. Recently a new evaluation parameter called CiteScore is created and it has more advantages over than the IF, the link below shows a webinar about this new metric. In addition, many other researcher from different countries have an acceptable papers written in other languages like Arabic, so do we dis consider these great efforts due to language? So my final opinion is IF does not represent a measure of science at all!!
Regards, Emad
https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/13703/238667?autoclick=true&utm_source=brighttalk-recommend&utm_campaign=network_weekly_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=collab&utm_term=072017
I think no , Impact Factor (IF) is an objective measure of journal performance.
I think that Impact Factor is a measure of popularity between actual researchers for their numbers of last cites.
I just want to ask: Why is a new parametric named "CiteScore" created? or being used instead of IF? For example Scopus suggested and adopted this parameter.
Regards, Emad
Dear Colleagues
The journal impact factor is a measure of the journal reputation, neutrality and its professionalism. IF does not means that the value of the paper is scientifically high or low but it indicated the authors choice which depends on many factors.
Regards
Dear Miqdam,
I do not find neutral in making a priori selection of the journals to calculate IF because the IF depends of the considered journals. If more of the 90% of the journals are in English totally, the IF could be of interest for some countries with that language, but for others could be insufficient.
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