Departamento de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
Scholarly Communications Lab, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
Elife. 2019 Jul 31;8:e47338. doi: 10.7554/eLife.47338.
We analyzed how often and in what ways the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is currently used in review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) documents of a representative sample of universities from the United States and Canada. 40% of research-intensive institutions and 18% of master's institutions mentioned the JIF, or closely related terms. Of the institutions that mentioned the JIF, 87% supported its use in at least one of their RPT documents, 13% expressed caution about its use, and none heavily criticized it or prohibited its use. Furthermore, 63% of institutions that mentioned the JIF associated the metric with quality, 40% with impact, importance, or significance, and 20% with prestige, reputation, or status. We conclude that use of the JIF is encouraged in RPT evaluations, especially at research-intensive universities, and that there is work to be done to avoid the potential misuse of metrics like the JIF.
我们分析了目前有多少美国和加拿大的代表性大学在评审、晋升和终身教职（RPT）文件中经常以何种方式使用期刊影响因子（JIF）。40%的研究密集型机构和 18%的硕士机构提到了 JIF 或密切相关的术语。在所提到 JIF 的机构中，87%的机构至少在其一份 RPT 文件中支持使用 JIF，13%对其使用表示谨慎，没有机构强烈批评或禁止使用 JIF。此外，63%提到 JIF 的机构将该指标与质量联系起来，40%与影响力、重要性或意义联系起来，20%与威望、声誉或地位联系起来。我们的结论是，在 RPT 评估中鼓励使用 JIF，尤其是在研究密集型大学，并且需要做更多的工作来避免对 JIF 等指标的潜在滥用。
