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The editorial policies of scientific journals: Testing an impact factor model

Author

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  • Mario de Marchi

    (CNR-ISRDS)

  • Maurizio Rocchi

    (CNR-ISRDS)

Abstract

There is an evident need for the most scrupulous assessment possibleof the fruits of research (in the context considered here; namely, publications)with a qualitative, hence in-depth analysis of the single products of . Butthis would require time and competences which not all policy makers have attheir disposal. Hopefully, quantitative procedures, apparently objective andeasy to apply, would be able to surmount these difficulties. The diffusionof the quantitative evaluation of research is, that is, the policy makers'adaptive response to the need to increase controls of the efficiency of publicspending in since public investment clearly could not be determined at theoutset on the basis of the market's spontaneous, decentralised balancingmechanisms. An essential step towards the prevention of the distortions mostlikely to result from quantitative evaluation is the adoption of quantitativeprocedures of evaluation of the editorial policies of scientific journals– or, rather, of journals which claim to be scientific. Such proceduresmust be designed to highlight any distortions caused by the non-optimal editorialpolicies of journals. With quantitative evaluation, in fact, journals playa crucial role in the formation of public science policies. They thus haveto be subjected to specific monitoring to make sure that their conduct fitsin with the prerequisites necessary for them to perform their semi-officialactivity as certifiers of the quality of the products of research. The phenomenaof the production, divulgation and fruition of scientific discovery are, ofcourse, so complex that it is necessary to weigh them not with a single indicator,however helpful it may be, but with a constellation of indicators. We receivedconfirmation of the reliability of the impact factor as an instrument to monitorthe quality of research and as a means of evaluating the research itself.This is a reassuring result for the current formulation of public policiesand confirms the substantial honesty of the competition mechanisms of thescientific enterprise.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario de Marchi & Maurizio Rocchi, 2001. "The editorial policies of scientific journals: Testing an impact factor model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(2), pages 395-404, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:51:y:2001:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1012705818635
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1012705818635
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moed, H. F. & Burger, W. J. M. & Frankfort, J. G. & Van Raan, A. F. J., 1985. "The use of bibliometric data for the measurement of university research performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 131-149, June.
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    1. Mansilla, R. & Köppen, E. & Cocho, G. & Miramontes, P., 2007. "On the behavior of journal impact factor rank-order distribution," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 155-160.
    2. Mario Marchi & Edoardo Lorenzetti, 2016. "Measuring the impact of scholarly journals in the humanities field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(1), pages 253-261, January.
    3. Emanuela Reale & Anna Barbara & Antonio Costantini, 2006. "Peer review for the evaluation of the academic research: the Italian experience," CERIS Working Paper 200615, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    4. Si Shen & Ronald Rousseau & Dongbo Wang & Danhao Zhu & Huoyu Liu & Ruilun Liu, 2015. "Editorial delay and its relation to subsequent citations: the journals Nature, Science and Cell," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1867-1873, December.
    5. David I. Stern, 2013. "Uncertainty Measures for Economics Journal Impact Factors," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 173-189, March.
    6. Xie, Yundong & Wu, Qiang & Wang, Yezhu & Hou, Li & Liu, Yuanyuan, 2024. "Does the handling time of scientific papers relate to their academic impact and social attention? Evidence from Nature, Science, and PNAS," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    7. M. Marchi & E. Lorenzetti, 2016. "Measuring the impact of journals, a reprise," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 995-997, August.

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