Multidimensional journal evaluation: analyzing scientific periodicals beyond the impact factor

Abstract

Scientific communication depends primarily on publishing in journals. The most important indicator to determine the influence of a journal is the Impact Factor. Since this factor only measures the average number of citations per article in a certain time window, it can be argued that it does not reflect the actual value of a periodical. This book defines five dimensions, which build a framework for a multidimensional method of journal evaluation. The author is winner of the Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Scholarship 2011.