The Journal Impact Factor
G. Beretta
HP Labs Palo Alto
January 21, 2009
G. Beretta (HP Labs Palo Alto) The Journal Impact Factor January 21, 2009 1/5

Why should I care about the impact factor?
Example: research in China
Which fraction of your submissions is from China?
In China, a Principal Investigator’s basic yearly salary is several
thousand dollars
The basic stipend for grad students is about $500 a year
The rest is made up with productivity-based supplements
Source: Science, 322, 664–666
G. Beretta (HP Labs Palo Alto) The Journal Impact Factor January 21, 2009 2/5

Publication boni
Example: research in China
Publication boni are part of the productivity-based supplements
Data for the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Institute of
Chemistry:
Nature or Science: $2500 or more
Physical Review Letters or Journal of the American Chemical
Society: about $1300
Journal with impact factor > 3: about $500
Journal with impact factor < 3: less than $200
Boni are divvied according to the author’s contributions
In addition, universities also pay productivity-based salaries to
professors
Source: Science, 322, 664–666
G. Beretta (HP Labs Palo Alto) The Journal Impact Factor January 21, 2009 3/5

Europe
In Europe, grant-giving agencies consider the impact factor of the
journals in which results are published
When publishing, researchers are more concerned with a journal’s
impact factor than with its reputation
The quality of the manuscripts you receive depend on your
journal’s impact factor
G. Beretta (HP Labs Palo Alto) The Journal Impact Factor January 21, 2009 4/5

What is your impact factor?
3.0
TIP
2.5
2.0
JOSA
1.5
1.0 OE
JIST
0.5 JEI
0.0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
G. Beretta (HP Labs Palo Alto) The Journal Impact Factor January 21, 2009 5/5