Journal self-citation XXII: On the journal impact factor - A historical perspective

Abstract

This paper puts a historical perspective on the use of Impact Factors. It describes how Impact Factors were used in a U.S. National Research Council project 35 years ago to evaluate the improvements that resulted from a billion dollar University Science Development program funded by the National Science Foundation. Impact Factor rankings proved to have a remarkably high correlation to science departments ranking obtained from a different source. The paper considers additional policy aspects of impact factors. © 2009 by the authors.