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L’Impact Factor: luci e ombre

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  • Silvia Ferrini

Abstract

The impact factor is one of the most famous instrument used in the scientific field in establishing individual promotion, assumption, journal acquisition and, in some University, even to allocate research funds. This index, invented and promoted by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), born as a bibliometric index able to guide editors’ decision. Subsequently, it has been used in different evaluation activities and in this paper we analyse its use in the research evaluation process. We review different bibliometric indexes and we point out the main lights and shadows of the impact factor. Reviewing the existing literature, we analyse the strategies available to improve the impact factor and we discover that few studies have been done in the economic disciplines. We conclude emphasizing the importance to improve synthetic indexes used to evaluate scientific progress and individual productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvia Ferrini, 2007. "L’Impact Factor: luci e ombre," Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID) University of Siena 002, Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID), University of Siena.
    • Handle: RePEc:usi:depfid:002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kalaitzidakis, P. & Mamuneas, T.P. & Stengos, T., 2003. "Rankings of Academic Journals and Institutions," Working Papers 2003-8, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    2. Tom Arnold, 2003. "Impact: What Influences Finance Research?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(2), pages 343-362, April.
    3. Narongrit Sombatsompop & Teerasak Markpin, 2005. "Making an equality of ISI impact factors for different subject fields," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 56(7), pages 676-683, May.
    4. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas & Thanasis Stengos, 2003. "Rankings of Academic Journals and Institutions in Economics," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1346-1366, December.
    5. J. Peter Neary & James A. Mirrlees & Jean Tirole, 2003. "Evaluating Economics Research in Europe: An Introduction," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1239-1249, December.
    6. Kostas Axarloglou & Vasilis Theoharakis, 2003. "Diversity in Economics: An Analysis of Journal Quality Perceptions," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1402-1423, December.
    7. Michel Lubrano & Luc Bauwens & Alan Kirman & Camelia Protopopescu, 2003. "Ranking Economics Departments in Europe: A Statistical Approach," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1367-1401, December.
    8. Michael Bräuninger & Justus Haucap, 2003. "Reputation and Relevance of Economics Journals," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 175-197, May.
    9. Isao Asai, 1981. "Adjusted age distribution and its application to impact factor and immediacy index," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 32(3), pages 172-174, May.
    10. Thed N. van Leeuwen & Henk F. Moed, 2002. "Development and application of journal impact measures in the Dutch science system," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 53(2), pages 249-266, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcella Corsi & Carlo D'Ippoliti & Federico Lucidi, 2011. "On the Evaluation of Economic Research: The Case of Italy," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 369-402.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    impact factor; bibliometric indexes; research evaluation.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines

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