Impact factor 2008 of Polish Polar Research the highest ever

Abstract

Each year, Thomson Reuters (formerly the Institute for Scientific Information, ISI) calculates the impact factor (IF) for the world’s leading scholarly periodicals indexed in citation databases, and publishes the statistics as Journal Citation Re− ports (JCR). The impact factor, a number that provides an assessment of the fre− quency with which the “average article” has been cited yearly, is the most popular bibliometric proxy in the scientific−scholarly communication system. It has be− come the principal indicator in the estimation of international prestige and visibil− ity, in particular the usefulness of published results and concepts in the research community. It is also used frequently to uphold particular titles. Regardless of the considerable criticism of the IF as a measure of research quality, its susceptibility to editorial manipulation and the biases promoted by its common uncritical use (see reviews in Moed 2005; Garfield 2006; Marszakowa−Szajkiewicz 2009; Racki 2009b; and also on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor), this easily−avail− able tool is conventionally utilized as a fundamental guide to the assessment of re− search performance, especially in developing countries (Łomnicki 2003). Despite the review of governmental policy regarding the subsidization of research institu− tions (Żylicz 2006; Racki 2009b), this motivational approach is also much used in Poland. The standard IF is calculated annually by dividing the number of recently−re− ceived citations to citable items published during the previous two years. The IF of Polish Polar Research (PPRes) was previously quite modest (<0.375), presumably due to being strongly biased by the frequency of journal self−citations (Racki 2002, 2005). Although listed on the Thomson−ISI homepage as the “master journal” since 2004, PPRes has formally been included in its coverage in 2008, and, consequently, its IF will be published in 2010. As noted previously, however, PPRes and every other science and technical journal may easily be impact−rated using citation data from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI Ex). The bibliometric statistics quickly reveal a growing citation number of the most recent PPRes articles, which is a key to the rapidly−increasing IF, the indicator calculated for the two−years window using the conventional IS1 formula (Table 1). Its highest ever value, 0.778 in 2008 (Fig. 1), closely compares with the more prominent Polish journals (Racki 2009a). Also, the use of the more sophisticated “real” impact factor (RIF), based exclusively on