The impact factor is one of the most famous instrument used in the scientific field in establishing individual promotion, assumption, journal acquisition and, in some University, even to allocate research funds. This index, invented and promoted by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), born as a bibliometric index able to guide editors’ decision. Subsequently, it has been used in different evaluation activities and in this paper we analyse its use in the research evaluation process. We review different bibliometric indexes and we point out the main lights and shadows of the impact factor. Reviewing the existing literature, we analyse the strategies available to improve the impact factor and we discover that few studies have been done in the economic disciplines. We conclude emphasizing the importance to improve synthetic indexes used to evaluate scientific progress and individual productivity.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
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