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

[Joseph Sarkis]

This perspective is changing.  If you are in a Business School, AACSB's new standards are looking for evidence of broader impact.  Letters like this will be useful, if not necessary.  Especially since these items are evidence that go beyond citation impact factor, which, as has been noted has many flaws.



Having said that, impact under the new AACSB standards will be discussed for years as schools come to grips with the new standards.



-Joe S.

________________________________
From: aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org [aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org] on behalf of Hossein Seif Zadeh [hossein.au at gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 10:38 PM
To: aisworld at lists.aisnet.org
Subject: Re: [AISWorld] Downside of impact factors: Scientists engaging in 'citation stacking'

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on whether I should include the letter in my upcoming promotion pack, I was told it would contribute "zilch" as it was not peer-reviewed, not a recognized publication, and it was "just one letter by one person"!!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
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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
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