Citation

Bensman SJ. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 2007; 58(12): 1904-1908.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Society for Information Science and Technology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/asi.20662

PMID

unavailable

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.