The meaning of the 'impact factor' in the case of an open-access journal

Abstract

The dominant model of journal evaluation emerged at the time when there were no open-access journals, and nobody has assessed yet whether this model is able to cope with this modern reality. This commentary attempts to fill the gaps in the common understanding of the role that 'impact factor' should play in evaluation of open-access journals. © 2011 Alexandrov; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.