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The decision to publish in a particular journal is driven by a number of factors, including reputation and impact. The first attraction, reputation, has been known since the dawn of scientific journals, whereas impact is of a more recent vintage. Journal impact factors were introduced by the charismatic Eugene Garfield, founder of The Scientist, in 1955. While the aim then was to generate a basic tool for librarians and institutions, the journal impact factor (JIF) rapidly became a measure of individual research quality. This repurposing of JIF, its use and misuse, has even caused a new “resistance” to the practice with the use of DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment). In brief, this assessment asks less for numbers but rather focuses on content: “what have you discovered?” and not, “where did you publish it?”
The hunt for impact by authors and editors is, however, still ...
