Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2019
Abstract
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.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights Information
© McKiernan et al.
Recommended Citation
McKiernan EC, Schimanski LA, Nieves CM, Matthias L, Niles MT, Alperin JP. Meta-research: use of the journal impact factor in academic review, promotion, and tenure evaluations. Elife. 2019 Jul 31;8:e47338.
DOI
10.7554/eLife.47338
Link to Article at Publisher Website
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