Lost in publication: how measurement harms science
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: ESEP Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics Contact the journal RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections ESEP 8:9-11 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00079 Lost in publication: how measurement harms science Peter A. Lawrence* Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK, and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK *Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Measurement of scientific productivity is difficult. The measures used (impact factor of the journal, citations to the paper being measured) are crude. But these measures are now so universally adopted that they determine most things that matter: tenure or unemployment, a postdoctoral grant or none, success or failure. As a result, scientists have been forced to downgrade their primary aim from making discoveries to publishing as many papers as possible—and trying to work them into high impact factor journals. Consequently, scientific behaviour has become distorted and the utility, quality and objectivity of articles has deteriorated. Changes to the way scientists are assessed are urgently needed, and I suggest some here. KEY WORDS: Impact factors · Citations · h-index · Measurement · Scientific careers Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Lawrence PA (2008) Lost in publication: how measurement harms science. Ethics Sci Environ Polit 8:9-11. https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00079 Export citation Mail this link - Contents Mailing Lists - RSS Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESEP Vol. 8, No. 1. Online publication date: June 03, 2008 Print ISSN: 1863-5415; Online ISSN: ISSN Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.
DOI: 10.3354/esep00079
Author: PA Lawrence
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1999768848