Editorial
What is impact factor of a scientific journal?
The Impact Factor (IF), as it was originally named, is the main measure employed to evaluate the scientific journals all over the world, by counting the citations received from published papers. It provides quantitative data that indicates approximately which journals have greater academic prestige. In Brazil, some commissions such as the Qualis Periódicos of CAPES use this tool to compose their evaluations. Herein I will not discuss the distortions of such index, yet it should be noted that there is also a complementary analysis on the quality of the journal, peer review process, productivity, besides other subjective factors about the editorial policy. Also, CAPES recently published a list of predatory journals (https://predaqualis. netlify.com/lista), which present impact factor yet use principles that are discordant in the academic environment – e.g. they do not have an ethical publication policy and charge fees for publication, making a doubtful evaluation of the quality of scientific texts. The Impact Factor of a scientific journal is calculated only among journals that compose the large collection of the Web of Science database and present DOI. Therefore, the citations of issues in non-indexed journals, or considering the Impact Factor for journals outside the WoS, are not counted, even though their citations may be measured in other indexing bases.
How to cite: Porto GG. What is impact factor of a scientific journal? J Braz Coll Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2018 May-Aug;4(2):4-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14436/2358-2782.4.2.004-005.edt
© Journal of the Brazilian College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
4
J Braz Coll Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2018 May-Aug;4(2):4-5