Rage Against the Impact Factor
In our previous commentary (“Study Shows Men are Better than Women in Bioinformatics (p<0.05)”), we showed how statistics can be misused to reach any fanciful conclusion, and so-called ‘studies’ hyped up by media need to be taken with a grain of salt. Overuse of journal impact factor to measure individual performance or make grant decision is another example of good measure gone bad, as two articles point out.
Impacting our Young by Eve Mardera, Helmut Kettenmannb and Sten Grillner
Personally, we do not think all creative uses of impact factor have been exhausted. We are seeking data and help to compute impact factors of all coffee shops, McDonalds and Walmarts in the country based on how often they are visited by ‘high impact factor researchers’. We envision a world, where all products and services will be marked with tagged with their impact factors.
Big Mac - IF - 3.07, Price $4.99
Fries - IF - 7.01, Price $1.99
Coffee - IF - 7.21, Price $1.01
Genome Biology - IF - 9.04, Priceless
