TY - JOUR
T1 - Use of the journal impact factor in academic review, promotion, and tenure evaluations
AU - McKiernan, Erin C.
AU - Schimanski, Lesley A.
AU - Nieves, Carol Muñoz
AU - Matthias, Lisa
AU - Niles, Meredith T.
AU - Alperin, Juan P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© McKiernan et al.
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
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.
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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070808246&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7554/eLife.47338
DO - 10.7554/eLife.47338
M3 - Article
C2 - 31364991
AN - SCOPUS:85070808246
SN - 2050-084X
VL - 8
JO - eLife
JF - eLife
M1 - e47338
ER -