October 14, 2005

Impact Factors Run Into Competition

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

Researchers look for other ways to evaluate a paper's importance

For some scientists, it's the height of irony: The scientific method depends on being able to check what others have done. But the growing use of citation statistics and impact factors in academe goes against that basic principle, because researchers say they cannot assess the basic data used to produce those measurements, which are controlled by a private company, Thomson ISI.

"It's a bit of a paradoxical

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