The impact factor, total citations, and better citation mouse traps: A commentary

Abstract

This communication comments upon the article "Measuring the Utility of Journals in the Crime-Psychology Field: Beyond the Impact Factor" by Walters (2006), recently published in JASIST. Walters' article is utilized as a vehicle to demonstrate certain misconceptions and incorrect value judgments common to the literature on the impact factor, arising from a lack of understanding of this measure's role in the thought structure of its creator, Eugene Garfield, as well as of his utilization of this measure.