From: Victoria Reich <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:03:09 -0700

Dear colleagues,

This paper may be of interest.

Deep Impact: Unintended consequences of journal rank:

Björn Brembs, Marcus Munafò
http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.3748

hat tip to:

http://mathbabe.org/2013/03/08/unintended-consequences-of-journal-ranking/
http://blog.dshr.org/2013/03/journals-considered-harmful.html

The authors draw the following conclusions:

"The current empirical literature on the effects of journal rank
provides evidence supporting the following four conclusions: 1)
Journal rank is a weak to moderate predictor of scientific impact; 2)
Journal rank is a moderate to strong predictor of both intentional and
unintentional scientific unreliability; 3) Journal rank is expensive,
delays science and frustrates researchers; and, 4) Journal rank as
established by [Impact Factor] violates even the most basic scientific
standards, but predicts subjective judgments of journal quality."

--
Vicky Reich
Executive Director LOCKSS Program
The Stanford University Libraries
www.lockss.org