We discuss research evaluation, the nature of impact, and the use of the Thomson Reuters journal impact factor and other indicators in scientometrics in the light of recent commentary.
ABRC (1987). A strategy for the science base. HMSO, London. ISBN 0 11 270627 4.
Adam, D 2002 Citation analysis: The counting house. Nature 415:726–729 .
Adams, J 2002 Research assessment in the UK. Science 296:805 .
Adams, J 2005 Early citation counts correlate with accumulated impact. Scientometrics 65 3 567–581 .
Adams, J. (2007). The use of bibliometrics to measure research quality in UK higher education institutions. Universities UK, London. ISBN 1 84036 165 4 http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/bibliometrics.pdf.
Adams, J. (2008). Strategic review of the performance-based research fund: The assessment process. A report to the New Zealand Tertiary Education Council, http://www.tec.govt.nz/Documents/Reports%20and%20other%20documents/pbrf-strategic-review-of-asessment-process-2008-review.pdf p. 112.
Adams, J 2009 The use of bibliometrics to measure research quality in UK higher education institutions. Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis 57:19–32 .
Adams, J, Gurney, KA, Marshall, S 2007 Profiling citation impact: A new methodology. Scientometrics 72 2 325–344 .
Adams, J, Jackson, L, Simmonds, P, Stroyan, J 2006 Evaluating social science bibliometrics and research indicators. A report to the UK Economic and Social Research Council ESRC Swindon.
Adams, J., Mount, D.R., Smith, D. & Thomson, S. (2010). The future of the UK university research base. A report to Universities UK. Universities UK, London. http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/UUK-FutureOfResearch-LiteratureReview.pdf p. 63.
Adams, J., & Smith, D. (2007). Higher education, research and the knowledge economy: From Robbins to the gathering storm. In D. Watson & M. Amoah (eds.), The dearing report, ten years on. Institute of Education. ISBN 0 85473 780 4. London, pp. 81–108.
Adams, J, Watt, PJ, Naylor, CJ, Greenwood, PJ 1989 Loading constraints, body size and mating preference in Gammarus species. Hydrobiologia 183:157–164 .
Bensman, S. J. (2012). The impact factor: Its place in Garfield's thought, in science evaluation, and in library collection management. Scientometrics. doi: .
Braun, T. (2007). The impact factor of scientific and scholarly journals: Its use and misuse in research evaluation. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest. ISBN 9 63 058528 6.
Buchanan, RA 2006 Accuracy of cited references: The role of citation databases. College and Research Libraries 67:292–303.
Campanario, JM 2011 Empirical study of journal impact factors obtained using the classical two-year citation window versus a five-year citation window. Scientometrics 87:189–204 .
Campanario, JM, Carretero, J, Marangon, V, Molina, A, Ros, G 2011 Effect on the journal impact factor of the number and document type of citing records: A wide-scale study. Scientometrics 87:75–84 .
European Commission (2012). Evidence base for research and innovation. http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=fp7-evidence.
Garfield, E 1955 Citation indexes for science: A new dimension in documentation through association of ideas. Science 122:108–111 .
Garfield, E 1972 Citation analysis as a tool in journal evaluation: Journals can be ranked by frequency and impact of citations for science policy studies. Science 178:471–479 .
Garfield, E 1976 Significant journals of science. Nature 264:609–615 .
Garfield, E 2006 The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. Journal of the American Medical Association 295:90–93 .
Garfield, E, Sher, IH 1963 New factors in evaluation of scientific literature through citation indexing. American Documentation 14:195–201 .
Goodhart, CAE 1975 Monetary relationships: A view from threadneedle street. papers in monetary economics Reserve Bank of Australia Sydney.
HM Government (1993). Realising our potential: A strategy for science, engineering and technology., Cm 2250. HMSO, London. ISBN 0 10 122502 4.
Hirsch, JE 2005 An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 102:16569–16572 .
Hubbard, SC, McVeigh, ME 2011 Casting a wide net: The journal impact factor numerator. Learned Publishing 24:133–137 .
Leydesdorff, L. (2012). Alternatives to the journal impact factor: I3 and the top-10% (or top-25%?) of the most-highly cited papers. Scientometrics. doi: .
Leydesdorff, L, Bornmann, L 2011 Integrated impact indicators compared with impact factors: An alternative research design with policy implications. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62:2133–2146 .
Marx, W 2011 Special features of historical papers from the viewpoint of bibliometrics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62:433–439.
Moed, M. F. (2005). Citation analysis in research evaluation. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 95–96 and 174-178.
Moed, H. F., Glanzel, W., & Schmoch, U. (2004). Handbook of quantitative science and technology research (eds.). Kluwer, Dordrecht. ISBN 1 4020 2702 8.
Moed, HF TN van Leeuwen 1996 Impact factors can mislead. Nature 381:186 .
Pendlebury, D. A. (2008). Thomson scientific corrects inaccuracies in editorial. Retrieved from http://community.thomsonreuters.com/t5/Citation-Impact-Center/Thomson-Scientific-Corrects-Inaccuracies-In-Editorial/ba-p/717/message-uid/717. Accessed on 29 January 2012.
Pendlebury, DA 2009 The use and misuse of journal metrics and other citation indicators. Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis 57:1–11 .
Rousseau, R. (2012). Updating the journal impact factor or total overhaul? Scientometrics. doi: .
Rossner, M H Van Epps Hill, E 2007 Show me the data. Journal of Cell Biology 179:1091–1092 .
Testa, J. (2008). The Thomson Reuters journal selection process. Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/free/essays/journal_selection_process/. Accessed 29 January 2012.
Testa, J. (2011). The globalization of the Web of science: 2005-2010. Retrieved from http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/globalwos-essay.pdf. Accessed 29 January 2012.
Thomson Reuters (2012). Journal citation reports. Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports/. Accessed 29 January 2012.
AFJ Van Raan 2005 Fatal attraction: Conceptual and methodological problems in the ranking of universities by bibliometric methods. Scientometrics 62 1 133–143 .
Vanclay, J. K. (2012). Impact factor: Outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification? Scientometrics. doi: .