Opinion article
ScienceAsia (): 1-5 |doi:
10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874...001
On the current obsession with publication statistics
Michael A. Allen
ABSTRACT: Crude publication statistics such as publication counts and impact factors are routinely being employed to assess individuals and institutions. Although they can play a role in an approximate preliminary assessment, using them for anything more is inappropriate due to their over-simplicity and ease of manipulation. Furthermore, it is argued that rewarding scientists for achieving high scores in such number-based evaluations ultimately leads to a slowing of scientific progress. Suggestions are given on how reliance on statistics can be reduced and their manipulation discouraged.
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| Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Rama 6 Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand |
* Corresponding author, E-mail: frmaa@mahidol.ac.th
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