Chasing the “Impact”out of Science – Does the “Impact Factor Trap”compromise Scientific Integrity?
As researchers, we have all felt the pressure to publish in “high impact” journals, regardless of field or career stage. This is because the impact factor of a journal is widely considered a “representative” of the quality of manuscripts published in it. There is an invisible hierarchy that dictates the journal to which we aspire to submit our manuscripts, the papers we read and the research that we keep up with.