TY - JOUR
KW - Academic careers
KW - higher education
KW - impact factor
KW - institutional policy
KW - scholarly communications
AU - Erin C McKiernan
AU - Lesley A Schimanski
AU - Carol Muñoz Nieves
AU - Lisa Matthias
AU - Meredith T Niles
AU - Juan P Alperin
AU - Emma Pewsey
AU - Peter Rodgers
AU - Björn Brembs
AB - 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.
BT - eLife
DA - 2019-07-31
DO - 10.7554/eLife.47338
N2 - 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.
PY - 2019
EP - e47338
T2 - eLife
TI - Use of the Journal Impact Factor in academic review, promotion, and tenure evaluations
UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47338
VL - 8
Y2 - 2025-08-07
SN - 2050-084X
ER -