20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology

R Henrik Nilsson; Arnold Tobias Jansson; Christian Wurzbacher; Sten Anslan; Pauline Belford; Natàlia Corcoll; Alexandra Dombrowski; Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad; Mikael Gustavsson; Daniela Gómez-Martínez; Faheema Kalsoom Khan; Maryia Khomich; Charlotte Lennartsdotter; David Lund; Breyten Van Der Merwe; Vladimir Mikryukov; Marko Peterson; Teresita M Porter; Sergei Põlme; Alice Retter; Marisol Sanchez-Garcia; Sten Svantesson; Patrik Svedberg; Duong Vu; Martin Ryberg; Kessy Abarenkov; Erik Kristiansson

doi:10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048

20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology

R Henrik Nilsson, Arnold Tobias Jansson, Christian Wurzbacher, Sten Anslan, Pauline Belford, Natàlia Corcoll, Alexandra Dombrowski, Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad, Mikael Gustavsson, Daniela Gómez-Martínez, Faheema Kalsoom Khan, Maryia Khomich, Charlotte Lennartsdotter, David Lund, Breyten Van Der Merwe, Vladimir Mikryukov, Marko Peterson, Teresita M Porter, Sergei Põlme, Alice RetterMarisol Sanchez-Garcia, Sten Svantesson, Patrik Svedberg, Duong Vu, Martin Ryberg, Kessy Abarenkov, Erik Kristiansson

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Journal impact factors were devised to qualify and compare university library holdings but are frequently repurposed for use in ranking applications, research papers, and even individual applicants in mycology and beyond. The widely held assumption that mycological studies published in journals with high impact factors add more to systematic mycology than studies published in journals without high impact factors nevertheless lacks evidential underpinning. The present study uses the species hypothesis system of the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi and other eukaryotes to trace the publication history and impact factor of sequences uncovering new fungal species hypotheses. The data show that journal impact factors are poor predictors of discovery potential in systematic mycology. There is no clear relationship between journal impact factor and the discovery of new species hypotheses for the years 2000-2021. On the contrary, we found journals with low, and even no, impact factor to account for substantial parts of the species hypothesis landscape, often discovering new fungal taxa that are only later picked up by journals with high impact factors. Funding agencies and hiring committees that insist on upholding journal impact factors as a central funding and recruitment criterion in systematic mycology should consider using indicators such as research quality, productivity, outreach activities, review services for scientific journals, and teaching ability directly rather than using publication in high impact factor journals as a proxy for these indicators.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	273-285
Number of pages	13
Journal	MycoKeys
Volume	110
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048
Publication status	Published - Nov 2024

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Nilsson, R. H., Jansson, A. T., Wurzbacher, C., Anslan, S., Belford, P., Corcoll, N., Dombrowski, A., Ghobad-Nejhad, M., Gustavsson, M., Gómez-Martínez, D., Kalsoom Khan, F., Khomich, M., Lennartsdotter, C., Lund, D., Van Der Merwe, B., Mikryukov, V., Peterson, M., Porter, T. M., Põlme, S., ... Kristiansson, E. (2024). 20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology. MycoKeys, 110, 273-285. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048

@article{91c3b160fd2a48bf90045cafc9640de4,

title = "20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology",

abstract = "Journal impact factors were devised to qualify and compare university library holdings but are frequently repurposed for use in ranking applications, research papers, and even individual applicants in mycology and beyond. The widely held assumption that mycological studies published in journals with high impact factors add more to systematic mycology than studies published in journals without high impact factors nevertheless lacks evidential underpinning. The present study uses the species hypothesis system of the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi and other eukaryotes to trace the publication history and impact factor of sequences uncovering new fungal species hypotheses. The data show that journal impact factors are poor predictors of discovery potential in systematic mycology. There is no clear relationship between journal impact factor and the discovery of new species hypotheses for the years 2000-2021. On the contrary, we found journals with low, and even no, impact factor to account for substantial parts of the species hypothesis landscape, often discovering new fungal taxa that are only later picked up by journals with high impact factors. Funding agencies and hiring committees that insist on upholding journal impact factors as a central funding and recruitment criterion in systematic mycology should consider using indicators such as research quality, productivity, outreach activities, review services for scientific journals, and teaching ability directly rather than using publication in high impact factor journals as a proxy for these indicators.",

author = "Nilsson, {R Henrik} and Jansson, {Arnold Tobias} and Christian Wurzbacher and Sten Anslan and Pauline Belford and Nat{\`a}lia Corcoll and Alexandra Dombrowski and Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad and Mikael Gustavsson and Daniela G{\'o}mez-Mart{\'i}nez and {Kalsoom Khan}, Faheema and Maryia Khomich and Charlotte Lennartsdotter and David Lund and {Van Der Merwe}, Breyten and Vladimir Mikryukov and Marko Peterson and Porter, {Teresita M} and Sergei P{\~o}lme and Alice Retter and Marisol Sanchez-Garcia and Sten Svantesson and Patrik Svedberg and Duong Vu and Martin Ryberg and Kessy Abarenkov and Erik Kristiansson",

note = "R. Henrik Nilsson, Arnold Tobias Jansson, Christian Wurzbacher, Sten Anslan, Pauline Belford, Nat{\`a}lia Corcoll, Alexandra Dombrowski, Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad, Mikael Gustavsson, Daniela G{\'o}mez-Mart{\'i}nez, Faheema Kalsoom Khan, Maryia Khomich, Charlotte Lennartsdotter, David Lund, Breyten Van Der Merwe, Vladimir Mikryukov, Marko Peterson, Teresita M. Porter, Sergei P{\~o}lme, Alice Retter, Marisol Sanchez-Garcia, Sten Svantesson, Patrik Svedberg, Duong Vu, Martin Ryberg, Kessy Abarenkov, Erik Kristiansson.",

year = "2024",

month = nov,

doi = "10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048",

language = "English",

volume = "110",

pages = "273--285",

journal = "MycoKeys",

issn = "1314-4057",

publisher = "Pensoft Publishers",

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Nilsson, RH, Jansson, AT, Wurzbacher, C, Anslan, S, Belford, P, Corcoll, N, Dombrowski, A, Ghobad-Nejhad, M, Gustavsson, M, Gómez-Martínez, D, Kalsoom Khan, F, Khomich, M, Lennartsdotter, C, Lund, D, Van Der Merwe, B, Mikryukov, V, Peterson, M, Porter, TM, Põlme, S, Retter, A, Sanchez-Garcia, M, Svantesson, S, Svedberg, P, Vu, D, Ryberg, M, Abarenkov, K & Kristiansson, E 2024, '20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology', MycoKeys, vol. 110, pp. 273-285. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048

TY - JOUR

T1 - 20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology

AU - Nilsson, R Henrik

AU - Jansson, Arnold Tobias

AU - Wurzbacher, Christian

AU - Anslan, Sten

AU - Belford, Pauline

AU - Corcoll, Natàlia

AU - Dombrowski, Alexandra

AU - Ghobad-Nejhad, Masoomeh

AU - Gustavsson, Mikael

AU - Gómez-Martínez, Daniela

AU - Kalsoom Khan, Faheema

AU - Khomich, Maryia

AU - Lennartsdotter, Charlotte

AU - Lund, David

AU - Van Der Merwe, Breyten

AU - Mikryukov, Vladimir

AU - Peterson, Marko

AU - Porter, Teresita M

AU - Põlme, Sergei

AU - Retter, Alice

AU - Sanchez-Garcia, Marisol

AU - Svantesson, Sten

AU - Svedberg, Patrik

AU - Vu, Duong

AU - Ryberg, Martin

AU - Abarenkov, Kessy

AU - Kristiansson, Erik

N1 - R. Henrik Nilsson, Arnold Tobias Jansson, Christian Wurzbacher, Sten Anslan, Pauline Belford, Natàlia Corcoll, Alexandra Dombrowski, Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad, Mikael Gustavsson, Daniela Gómez-Martínez, Faheema Kalsoom Khan, Maryia Khomich, Charlotte Lennartsdotter, David Lund, Breyten Van Der Merwe, Vladimir Mikryukov, Marko Peterson, Teresita M. Porter, Sergei Põlme, Alice Retter, Marisol Sanchez-Garcia, Sten Svantesson, Patrik Svedberg, Duong Vu, Martin Ryberg, Kessy Abarenkov, Erik Kristiansson.

PY - 2024/11

Y1 - 2024/11

N2 - Journal impact factors were devised to qualify and compare university library holdings but are frequently repurposed for use in ranking applications, research papers, and even individual applicants in mycology and beyond. The widely held assumption that mycological studies published in journals with high impact factors add more to systematic mycology than studies published in journals without high impact factors nevertheless lacks evidential underpinning. The present study uses the species hypothesis system of the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi and other eukaryotes to trace the publication history and impact factor of sequences uncovering new fungal species hypotheses. The data show that journal impact factors are poor predictors of discovery potential in systematic mycology. There is no clear relationship between journal impact factor and the discovery of new species hypotheses for the years 2000-2021. On the contrary, we found journals with low, and even no, impact factor to account for substantial parts of the species hypothesis landscape, often discovering new fungal taxa that are only later picked up by journals with high impact factors. Funding agencies and hiring committees that insist on upholding journal impact factors as a central funding and recruitment criterion in systematic mycology should consider using indicators such as research quality, productivity, outreach activities, review services for scientific journals, and teaching ability directly rather than using publication in high impact factor journals as a proxy for these indicators.

AB - Journal impact factors were devised to qualify and compare university library holdings but are frequently repurposed for use in ranking applications, research papers, and even individual applicants in mycology and beyond. The widely held assumption that mycological studies published in journals with high impact factors add more to systematic mycology than studies published in journals without high impact factors nevertheless lacks evidential underpinning. The present study uses the species hypothesis system of the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi and other eukaryotes to trace the publication history and impact factor of sequences uncovering new fungal species hypotheses. The data show that journal impact factors are poor predictors of discovery potential in systematic mycology. There is no clear relationship between journal impact factor and the discovery of new species hypotheses for the years 2000-2021. On the contrary, we found journals with low, and even no, impact factor to account for substantial parts of the species hypothesis landscape, often discovering new fungal taxa that are only later picked up by journals with high impact factors. Funding agencies and hiring committees that insist on upholding journal impact factors as a central funding and recruitment criterion in systematic mycology should consider using indicators such as research quality, productivity, outreach activities, review services for scientific journals, and teaching ability directly rather than using publication in high impact factor journals as a proxy for these indicators.

U2 - 10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048

DO - 10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048

M3 - Article

C2 - 39610860

SN - 1314-4057

VL - 110

SP - 273

EP - 285

JO - MycoKeys

JF - MycoKeys

ER -