Journal impact factor: A valid symbol of journal quality?

Rob Law and Daniel Leung
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Rob Law: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Daniel Leung: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Tourism Economics, 2020, vol. 26, issue 5, 734-742

Abstract: As the citation frequency of a journal is a representation of how many people have read and acknowledged their works, academia generally shares the notion that impact factor and citation data signify the quality and importance of a journal to the discipline. Although this notion is well-entrenched, is it reasonable to deduce that a journal is not of good quality due to its lower impact factor? Do journal impact factors truly symbolize the quality of a journal? What must be noted when we interpret journal impact factors? This commentary article discusses these questions and their answers thoroughly.

Keywords: citations; journal impact factor; journal quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:toueco:v:26:y:2020:i:5:p:734-742

DOI: 10.1177/1354816619845590

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