Mixing journal, article, and author citations, and other pitfalls in the bibliographic impact factor

Porta, Miquel; Copete, José Luis; Fernández, Esteve; Alguacil, Joan; Murillo, Janeth

doi:10.1590/s0102-311x2003000600030

“…Assim, o fator de impacto, que é visto como um indicador da visibilidade e difusão de conhecimento científico, é basicamente uma razão entre citações e itens publicados passíveis de citação. Sua força reside sobretudo na abrangência, estabilidade e aparente reprodutibilidade; por outro lado, algumas falhas óbvias, junto com seu uso leviano, provocaram uma torrente de críticas e discussões controversas sobre sua exatidão 6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . A Thomson Scientific, antes conhecida por Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), calcula e publica, no Journal Citation Reports, o fator de impacto dos 7.500 periódicos mais citados do mundo, que empregam a revisão por pares, em aproximadamente 200 áreas.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Brazilian knowledge production in the field of child and adolescent health

Blank

¹

,

Rosa

²

,

Gurgel

³

et al. 2006

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Objectives: To assess (a) the trend of MEDLINE citation of pediatrics articles associated with Brazilian institutions from 1990 through 2004; (b) the number of Brazilian pediatrics articles published in journals with the highest impact factor; and (c) the regional distribution of institutions.Methods: PubMed search limited to ages 0 to 18 years, English language, MEDLINE and humans subsets, Brazilian affiliation. For each year, we compared the articles retrieved to the whole of MEDLINE citations with the same search limits, except for affiliation, as well as to the total Brazilian scientific production cited in MEDLINE, without age limits. We made a descriptive analysis, and used the chi-square test for trend. Data concerning publication in journals with the highest impact factor were aggregated into three-year periods.Results: A total of 7,222 Brazilian pediatrics articles were listed in MEDLINE from 1990 through 2004, corresponding to 0.95% of all articles concerning the age group from 0 to 18 years. There was a fivefold increase in the absolute number of Brazilian articles along the study period. The ratio of Brazilian to total articles increased from 0.51 to 1.60% (p < 0.01). Scientific knowledge production remains strongly concentrated in the Southeast of Brazil.Conclusion: Brazilian research activities in pediatrics have had a steady upward trend, which relates to the proportional growth of the Brazilian scientific production as a whole.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2006;82(2):97-102: Knowledge production, pediatric research, bibliometrics, impact factor. ResumoObjetivos: Verificar (a) a tendência das citações de artigos de pediatria oriundos de instituições brasileiras, no MEDLINE, de 1990 até 2004; (b) o número de artigos publicados em periódicos com os maiores fatores de impacto; e (c) a distribuição regional das instituições.Métodos: Busca no PubMed com os seguintes limites: idade de 0 a 18 anos, língua inglesa, subconjuntos MEDLINE e humanos, afiliação brasileira. Para cada ano, comparamos os artigos encontrados com o total de citações no MEDLINE, obedecendo aos mesmos limites de busca, com exceção da afiliação; o mesmo foi feito com o total da produção científica brasileira citada no MEDLINE, sem limites de idade. Realizamos uma análise descritiva, usando o teste qui-quadrado para a tendência. Agregamos os dados relativos à publicação em periódicos com os maiores fatores de impacto em períodos de 3 anos. Resultados:Entre 1990 e 2004, o MEDLINE citou 7.222 artigos de pediatria brasileiros, correspondendo a 0,95% de todos os artigos tratando da faixa etária de 0 a 18. O número absoluto de artigos brasileiros aumentou cinco vezes durante esse período. A fração de artigos brasileiros em relação ao número total de artigos aumentou de 0,51 a 1,60% (p < 0,01). A produção científica permanece fortemente concentrada na Região Sudeste do Brasil.Conclusão: As atividades brasileiras de pesquisa em pediatria demonstram uma tendência ascendente constante, proporcional ao crescimento de toda a produção científica bras...

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“…They are of various nature, starting with the problem that not all relevant journals make it into ISI (Porta et al 2003) to periodicals with high impact factors due to an editorial line more concerned with reviews than original research (e.g., Pinto and Andrade 1999). Even the initial of an author's last name has been regarded as influential in citation potential (Tregenza 1997) and double-barreled names could end up being incorrectly listed in publication databases (Lorenzini 1996), including ISI.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

H-index in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences: comments and concerns

Kellner

¹

,

Ponciano

²

2008

An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc.

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Bibliometric parameters have been used in order to evaluate a scientist's performance. The h-index has been gradually accepted as the most adequate parameter for this purpose. To have an idea of this index among Brazilian scientists, we performed an analysis of this parameter for the full members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (BAS). The h-index of 402 members listed in 10 distinct categories by the BAS was determined, cross-checked with the curriculum vitae of each of them listed at the Plataforma Lattes database (CVL) and compared with each other. Despite the large production, mostly in journals without impact factor, the h-indexes among the BAS members are comparatively low and show a large variation in all of the 10 categories, particularly in Biomedical and Physical sciences. The highest average of h-index values was found in Biomedical, Health and Chemical sciences; the lowest values were found in Human sciences where this index is meaningless. Several problems due to the trend that new and "fresh" publications need be constantly produced (the "bakery-effect") are discussed. This study points to the need of developing countries such as Brazil to invest in national scientific journals in order to make them gradually part of the mainstream journals. This would have a positive effect on bibliometric parameters of Brazilian researchers, including the h-index.

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“…Em primeiro lugar, muitos já apontaram que contar citações é uma forma falha de avaliar o mérito acadêmico, entre outros porque não se mede a citação a artigos específi-cos [20][21][22][23][24][25] . Em segundo lugar, se um artigo é citado com freqüência como exemplo de pesquisa de má qualidade, mesmo assim a menção repetida a esse artigo irá aumentar o fator de impacto da revista.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Impact of SciELO and MEDLINE indexing on submissions to Jornal de Pediatria

Miyague

¹

,

Buchweitz

²

,

Procianoy³

2005

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“…It is an interesting observation that the strongest predictor of citations per year for a particular article is the impact factor of the publishing journal, reflecting the tendency among authors themselves to put more value on the publishing journal than on the traditional measures of study quality (8). Another intriguing observation is that the average impact factor among the top five journals in public health has doubled over the past 20 years from 2 to 4, whereas the top journals in occupational health improved from 1.1 to 1.6 (9). Thus other journals seem to have increased their impact factor more rapidly than occupational health journals, and this circumstance may prompt prospective authors to make other journals their first choice for submission.…”

Section: Where Should Researchers In Occupational Medicine Publish Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focus and future of occupational health journals

Viikari-Juntura¹,

Burdorf²

2007

Scand J Work Environ Health

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“…Its strength lies above all in the comprehensibility, stability and seeming reproducibility; on the other hand, some obvious flaws, along with its uninformed use, have resulted in a flood of critical and controversial discussions about its correctness. 6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Thomson Scientific, formerly known as the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) calculates and publishes in the Journal Citation Reports the impact factor of 7,500 of the worlds most cited peerreviewed journals in approximately 200 disciplines. Among those, there are 17 Brazilian journals, seven of which from the health field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Produção brasileira de conhecimento no campo da saúde da criança e do adolescente

Blank¹,

Rosa²,

Gurgel³

et al. 2006

J. Pediatr. (Rio J.)

0

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Objectives: To assess (a) the trend of MEDLINE citation of pediatrics articles associated with Brazilian institutions from 1990 through 2004; (b) the number of Brazilian pediatrics articles published in journals with the highest impact factor; and (c) the regional distribution of institutions.Methods: PubMed search limited to ages 0 to 18 years, English language, MEDLINE and humans subsets, Brazilian affiliation. For each year, we compared the articles retrieved to the whole of MEDLINE citations with the same search limits, except for affiliation, as well as to the total Brazilian scientific production cited in MEDLINE, without age limits. We made a descriptive analysis, and used the chi-square test for trend. Data concerning publication in journals with the highest impact factor were aggregated into three-year periods.Results: A total of 7,222 Brazilian pediatrics articles were listed in MEDLINE from 1990 through 2004, corresponding to 0.95% of all articles concerning the age group from 0 to 18 years. There was a fivefold increase in the absolute number of Brazilian articles along the study period. The ratio of Brazilian to total articles increased from 0.51 to 1.60% (p < 0.01). Scientific knowledge production remains strongly concentrated in the Southeast of Brazil.Conclusion: Brazilian research activities in pediatrics have had a steady upward trend, which relates to the proportional growth of the Brazilian scientific production as a whole.

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Mixing journal, article, and author citations, and other pitfalls in the bibliographic impact factor

Cited by 35 publications

References 20 publications

Brazilian knowledge production in the field of child and adolescent health

H-index in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences: comments and concerns

Impact of SciELO and MEDLINE indexing on submissions to Jornal de Pediatria

Focus and future of occupational health journals

Produção brasileira de conhecimento no campo da saúde da criança e do adolescente

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