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Atherosclerosis. 2013 Oct;230(2):275-7. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2013.07.051. Epub 2013 Aug 7.
Science has recently been accelerating at a fast rate, resulting in what has been called "information overload" and more recently "filter failure". In this perspective, journal performance indicators can play an important role in journal evaluation. Opinions on the appropriate use of journal-level bibliometrics indicators can be divided but they have now long been used as measures in research evaluation, and many editors see it as part of their editorial duty to try and improve bibliometrics indicators and rankings for their journal. There are various techniques through which this can be attempted, some more ethical than others. Some editors may try to boost the bibliometrics performance of their journals through gratuitous citations. This is problematic because citations are meant to provide useful references, scientifically justifiable, to previously published literature. As such citations can be used as widely accepted measures of scientific impact. Therefore, superfluous citations can distort the validity of bibliometrics indicators. It might be tempting to try to improve a journal's bibliometrics rankings at all costs, but these are only as meaningful as the data that feed into them. Exceedingly inflated indicators due to unethical behaviours can damage the reputation of a journal and its editors, and can lead to a loss of quality manuscript submissions, which in turn is likely to affect the journal's future citation impact.
科学最近正在加速发展，导致了所谓的“信息过载”，最近又出现了“过滤失败”。在这种情况下，期刊绩效指标可以在期刊评价中发挥重要作用。关于适当使用期刊层面的文献计量学指标的意见可以有分歧，但它们现在已经长期被用作研究评估的衡量标准，许多编辑认为努力提高期刊的文献计量学指标和排名是他们编辑职责的一部分。有各种各样的技术可以尝试，有些比其他的更有道德。一些编辑可能会试图通过无偿引用来提高他们期刊的文献计量学表现。这是有问题的，因为引文的目的是为以前发表的文献提供有用的、科学上合理的参考。因此，引文可以作为科学影响力的广泛接受的衡量标准。因此，多余的引文会扭曲文献计量学指标的有效性。编辑可能会试图不惜一切代价提高期刊的文献计量学排名，但这些排名只有在其数据有意义的情况下才有意义。由于不道德行为而导致的过高指标可能会损害期刊及其编辑的声誉，并导致高质量稿件的提交减少，这反过来又可能影响期刊未来的引文影响力。
