The “impact factor style of thinking”: A new theoretical framework

Publication date: May 2014 Source:International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, Volume 14, Issue 2 Author(s): Luis Fernández-Ríos , Javier Rodríguez-Díaz Over the last few years, university policy in developed countries has placed too much emphasis on assessing publications on the basis of the impact factor. Any scientific material that has not been published in a journal indexed in the Journal Citation Reports is academically irrelevant. Hence, researchers strive hard to publish in such journals. Failure to achieve this means not having a successful career or receiving any academic recognition. A thorough analysis of the effects of this phenomenon on the researcher community leads to the conclusion that the overestimation of the impact factor is likely to cause disappointment among many researchers. Researchers only have two options: adopting a politically correct behavior, that is, following the “impact factor style of thinking”, or accepting the futility of their research regardless of its relevance. This is an example of the involvement of university policy habitus obsessed impact index. O policy impact index is accepted, or is doomed to academic ostracism, and exclusion from participation in all university policy. En la cultura política universitaria de los países desarrollados se ha hecho en los últimos años demasiado énfasis en la valoración de las revistas con índice de impacto. Toda publicación que no sea incluida en una revista con...
Source: International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research