Date: July 6, 1998Cumulative Impact Factors In the February 2, 1998 issue of The Scientist (12[3]:11-12), we published the list of the 100 highest-impact journals for the period 1981-95. This study emphasized long-term cumulative impact rather than short-term or current impact. The main focus of these data were the articles published in 1981-82. We chose these two years so that 15 years of cumulative citations could be compiled. To many of our readers, these years must seem remote. But for some

Date: February 2, 1998 Chart 1 Chart 2 The first published report on journal impact factors was included in E. Garfield, I.H. Sher, "New factors in the evaluation of scientific literature through citation indexing," American Documentation, 14[3]:195-201, July 1963. The late Irving H. Sher, who then was director of R&D at the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), and I created the impact factor to help evaluate and select journals for Current Contents. The current i

In 1959, C.P. Snow presented a lecture on The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, published as a landmark book (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1959). This classic expresses the tension between the cultures of the sciences and the humanities. There are clashing cultures in communication technology, as well. Since the advent of the Internet, the postal system has been aptly described as "snail mail." This traditional postal culture is rapidly dying. It is increasingly used merely

When The Scientist was launched more than a decade ago, we wanted the right recipe for our publication. We discussed features that readers felt would be useful and, more significantly, could not be found here. We decided to focus on the career concerns of life sciences professionals. Our choice of direction has proved to be of value to working researchers; readers have enthusiastically communicated their satisfaction through letters and comments on our Web site. To enhance our editorial offerin

Readers of The Scientist by now should be familiar with the aims of Research!America, the Alexandria, Va.-based national nonprofit advocacy organization for biomedical research that was founded in 1989. Chairing its annual membership meeting on March 12, former Congressman Paul Rogers discussed the remarkable progress Research!America has made in advancing the cause of biomedical research. Mary Woolley, the organization's president, reported on the public's increased awareness of the need for g

     A Tribute To Calvin N. Mooers, A Pioneer Of Information Retrieval Author: Eugene Garfield The Scientist, Vol: 11(4)March 17, 1997         Last October at its annual meeting in Baltimore, the American Society for Information Science presented a session entitled "History of Information Science: Reminiscences and Assessments." Part of the session memorialized Calvin N. Mooers, a pioneer of information science who passed away in December 1994. Mooers

  Dispelling A Few Common Myths About Journal Citation Impacts Author: Eugene Garfield The Scientist,Vol.11(3),p.11, February 3, 1997           Last October I participated in a conference on research assessment in Capri, Italy. The various discussions and presentations at this meeting reminded me that there are still widespread misunderstandings-indeed, myths-about citation analysis, especially with respect to journal impact. For those readers who are not afic

Sidebar: Highly Cited Nitric Oxide ARticles by Salvador Moncada As part of my keynote address at the 10th International Conference on Prostaglandins and Related Compounds in Vienna on September 22, I reviewed my 1984 analysis of the 1982 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine that honored the work of Sir John R. Vane, Sune K. Bergstrom, and Bengt I. Samuelsson in advancing prostaglandin research (E. Garfield, Current Contents, 12:3-12, March 19, 1984). This field has grown enormously since then

     The Scientist Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary- And Its Millionth 'Hit' On The World Wide Web The Scientist, Vol:10, #21, p. 10 , October 28, 1996. Author: Eugene Garfield     This is the 240th consecutive issue of The Scientist, marking our 10th anniversary. Such a milestone prompted this review of the publication's original mission statement. In my inaugural commentary (E. Garfield, The Scientist, Oct. 20, 1986, page 9), which is reprinted on the following pag

Two hundred thirty-nine issues later, the paper's mission remains the same. 

Despite the voluminous literature that supports this point, which need not be cited here, people in the research, library, and information science communities continue to claim that there are 40,000 or more "journals" in existence. The problem is that such claims do not provide either qualitative or quantitative criteria for the definition of a journal. Furthermore, thousands of deceased journals are included among these claims. Despite the steady growth of scientific literature, 150 journals

An Old Proposal For A New Profession: Scientific Reviewing The Scientist, Vol:10,#16, p.12, August 19, 1996. Author: Eugene Garfield Recently, T.V. Rajan of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington presented thoughtful comments on the possible causes of the science research funding crisis (The Scientist, April 29, 1996, page 10). As the percentage of government-funded research proposals continues to drop while the pressure to publish original research remains high, he asked