8 limitations of selecting a journal based on impact factor

Impact factor is not directly representative of the citation rate of individual articles.

Impact factor alone is not an appropriate assessment criterion for quality of the manuscripts or the authors contributing to the journal.

Impact factor is derived by dividing the number of citations by the number of citable materials generated by the same journal.

The method of calculation makes the term 'impact factor' a misnomer; 'journal citation ratio' or 'journal citation index' being more appropriate.

The emphasis on journal impact factor creates undue pressure on the scientific community to judge the quality of research and researchers, and decreases the emphasis on appropriate reviews of manuscripts.

An all-encompassing, reliable, appropriate, and universally accepted quantitative measurement of the quality of a journal that evaluates research and researchers without bias is yet to be discovered.

The limitations of the impact factor have been well-known and criticized since long in the scientific community, however, the lack of an alternative forces the use of this imperfect measure for direct journal comparison.

An open-minded approach, practicing caution, and awareness of the limitations of this measure can go a long way in preventing discrimination against journals, research, and researchers.