eugene garfield

Introduction: The Prestige Trap In the competitive world of academic publishing, prestige is everything. For decades, one number has come to define that prestige: the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Hiring committees scrutinize it, grant panels cling to it, and researchers obsess over it like it’s the scientific equivalent of a stock ticker. A brilliant early-career … Read more

Introduction The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is arguably one of the most influential metrics in the history of academic publishing. Introduced by Eugene Garfield in the 1960s as a practical tool for librarians, it has since morphed into a behemoth that governs the careers of academics, the reputations of journals, and the decisions of universities … Read more