Dr Leo BetschartDr Leo Betschart

Dr Leo Betschart is an Information Consultant Chemistry at the Chemistry | Biology | Pharmacy Information Center of ETH Zurich. He holds a doctoral degree in Chemistry and a degree in Applied Statistics, both from ETH Zurich. His past research led him to the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, Novartis in Basel, and UBC in Vancouver. In his current position, he is heavily involved in teaching information literacy, assisting researchers with their trickier needs regarding information and data retrieval, and helping researchers get started with their electronic laboratory journals.

Shenanigans with Impact Factors 2: Thinking in Absolutes and Relatives

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Green water drop

"Drop" by Arek Socha, Pixabay

The Impact Factor is Big Business Aside from the infamous H-Index (which “quantifies” researchers), the most widely known concept from scientometrics is the Impact Factor (IF), which “quantifies” journals. Currently owned by Clarivate, the Journal Impact FactorTM is both a brand and a big business. Many copycats have tried to compete with the IF, but … Read more

Shenanigans with Impact Factors 1: The curious case of Acta Crystallographica Section A

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Pink water drop

"Drop" by Arek Socha, Pixabay

“More is better” surely also applies to the journal impact factor (IF), wouldn’t you agree? A paper published in a high IF journal clearly must create a significant impact in the research community. Or is that an oversimplification? Taking a closer look, we will see how an impact factor can go up and down unexpectedly. … Read more