What’s in an impact factor?

The impact factor is commonly seen as a yardstick to compare the significance—and some would say quality—of a medical journal and the research contained within. But what is it really measuring?

Writing for The Atlantic, Haider Javed Warraich, MBBS, a resident in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, argues that the impact factor is “akin to what the ‘mega-pixel’ is for digital cameras, a pithy misleading sound bite that has become an industry gold standard.”

Click to the link below to read more of Warraich’s thoughts on how an impact factor can be manipulated and where the future of journals is leading medical publishing: