[AISWorld] Downside of impact factors: Scientists engaging in 'citation stacking'

Ilia Bider ilia at ibissoft.se
Mon Sep 23 03:15:33 EDT 2013


Hossein,

Sadly enough :-(, no academic measurement, including the Impact Factor, 
is directed at measuring the impact of research on real life, only its 
influence on the academic life. Publishing in a highest ranking journal 
does not guarantee that a paper will be picked up by the industry, or 
other real life sector for implementation. Part of the problem here is 
the academic papers being written in such a style that a "normal" 
person, most probably, does not understand. What's more, IMHO, the high 
ranking journals are among those that promote this style in no lesser 
degree than the less ranking journals. On the positive side, this 
problem is started to be understood, and, hopefully, the situation will 
change in the nearest future :-).

Hope, my message will take away some of your frustration :-).

Best regards/Ilia

On 2013-09-23 04:38, Hossein Seif Zadeh wrote:
> Not currently employed as an academic, I have just prepared a fresh 
> jar of coffee and I am embracing for an "interesting" philosophical 
> debate without any tangible, actionable, outcome; but alas here we go 
> again...
>
> Just to share one personal experience; I successfully completed a 
> research project a few years ago and I received a letter of 
> commendation (on federal government letterhead) specifically saying my 
> research was of "national importance" and "impact". Later that year 
> when I sought feedback on whether I should include the letter in my 
> upcoming promotion pack, I was told it would contribute "zilch" as it 
> was not peer-reviewed, not a recognized publication, and it was "just 
> one letter by one person"!! Oh, well... Chalked it up as a lesson 
> learnt; original research of national importance has no place in 
> today's academia. Is this really the message we want to convey to 
> junior, aspiring, academics?
>
> Coffee mug in hand, feet up, ready for the onslaught of emails.... on 
> second thought, I might need a glass of red instead of coffee :-) 
> Should be an interesting 48 hours or or so before the debate winds down.
>
> Cheers,
> Hossein
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 23/09/2013, at 3:22 AM, "Kappelman, Leon" <Leon.Kappelman at unt.edu 
> <mailto:Leon.Kappelman at unt.edu>> wrote:
>
>> Some of our institutions have adopted or are considering the use of 
>> impact factors as a metric for faculty performance. Certainly our 
>> current faculty performance measures are less than perfect so it 
>> seems to be a suggestion worthy of consideration.  But impact factors 
>> are not without controversy and apparently prone to manipulation and 
>> questionable behaviors.  So before embracing impact factors, consider 
>> that at least to some extent they are a measure of what some might 
>> call "incestuous citation behaviors."  Not surprising since most all 
>> of us understand that when it comes to human behavior, you get what 
>> you measure.  The big question is: Do the positives of using impact 
>> factors, or any other metric or combination of measure for that 
>> matter, sufficiently outweigh the negatives?
>>
>> Here is some of the "food for thought" that raised my eyebrows enough 
>> to send this note:
>>
>> http://www.nature.com/news/brazilian-citation-scheme-outed-1.13604
>>
>> http://occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2012/08/13/sick-of-impact-factors/
>>
>> http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/journal-retracts-two-papers-after-being-caught-manipulating-citations/
>>
>> http://www.naturalnews.com/042152_citation_stacking_scientific_journals_dishonesty.html
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Leon Kappelman
>>
>> *"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom." -- Benjamin Franklin*
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D.
>>   Professor of Information Systems
>>   Director Emeritus, Information Systems Research Center
>>   Fellow, Texas Center for Digital Knowledge
>>     College of Business, University of North Texas
>>     Voice: 940-565-4698 <tel:940-565-4698> Email:kapp at unt.edu 
>> <mailto:kapp at unt.edu>
>> Founding Chair, Society for Information Management's Enterprise 
>> Architecture Working Group
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
>>
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>
>
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-- 
===============================================
Dr. Ilia Bider
Process- och systemutvecklingskonsult at ibissoft.se
Lektor & Forskare at DSV.su.se
ilia at ibissoft.se        +46 (0)8 164998
Design science in action ... http://slidesha.re/Uq3RTC

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