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Journal List > BMJ > v.313(7054); Aug 17, 1996

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BMJ. 1996 August 17; 313(7054): 411–413.
PMCID: PMC2351785
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How can impact factors be improved?
E. Garfield
Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
E. Garfield: garfield/at/aurora.cis.upenn.edu
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Abstract
Impact factors are widely used to rank and evaluate journals. They are also often used inappropriately as surrogates in evaluation exercises. The inventor of the Science Citation Index warns against the indiscriminate use of these data. Fourteen year cumulative impact data for 10 leading medical journals provide a quantitative indicator of their long term influence. In the final analysis, impact simply reflects the ability of journals and editors to attract the best papers available.
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Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
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  • Aboulker JP, Swart AM. Preliminary analysis of the Concorde trial. Concorde Coordinating Committee. Lancet. 1993 Apr 3;341(8849):889–890. [PubMed]
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