Should editors influence journal impact factors?

Dr Frank-T. Krell

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Editor-in-Chief, DMNS Annals

Editor 2003-2008,Systematic Entomology

Authors complaining about impact factor manipulation by editors

Consequences of such IF manipulation?Higher impact factor of the journal the author publishes in.

Who are the beneficiaries of such IF manipulation?

• All authors publishing in this journal.• Publisher of this journal.

Is it manipulation?

Impact factors derive from the citation process

Factors dominating the citation process:

• scientific relevance• strategy• sloppiness/laziness• bias• ignorance• voluntary choice• manipulation

Citation process

Is:Subjective and biased

Results in:Indicators

• for attention a paper receives,• not for quality

Editors’ actions unethical?

• Editors’ actions are not intruding or bending an objective process

• Editors contribute to the process in the same framework as authors or referees,

• but generally to a much lesser extent

Editors’ actions unethical?

Expectations in editors:• Maintaining/raising quality of journal• Raising attention to the journal

• Probably: building a journal identity/community; journal being more than an accumulation of papers

Making sure that appropriate citations aren’t missedGetting papers published that attract citations

Editorials, probably referring to papers publishedIf appropriate: journal-focused reviews

• Rejecting quality papers because of low citation expectations

• Insisting in journal self citations• or in non-citations of competing journals

Interfering with author’s responsibilities andscholarship for marketing purposes

Unethical editors’ actions

Ethical editors’ actions

• Informing authors about related papers in own journal

• Informing authors about obviously missed references to own journal’s papers

• Suggesting such citations if author considers them appropriate

Service for authors and journal