Otra vez los índices de impacto y su significado
En este blog he insistido en el hecho de que ya no se evalúa la ciencia por lo que se publica, si no dónde se publica y nos limitamos a «sumar» o «promediar» índices de impacto (Impact Factor, IF) de las revistas en las que se publica en vez de valorar el artículo individualmente. También he insistido en que los IFs se usan «alegremente», muchas veces sin conocer su significado real.
Hoy traigo a esta página un ejemplo espectacular que nos tiene que hacer reflexionar sobre el valor que puede tener el IF de las publicaciones científicas.
Se acaba de publicar el IF correspondiente a los artículos publicados en 2008. Y hay un cambio espectacular. La revista Acta Crystallographica Section A (Foundations of Crystallography) ha aumentado su IF en casi 25 veces, pasado de un digno 2’05 a un espectacular 49’93. ¿Por qué ha sido esto? ¿Ha aumentado la calidad de los artículos publicado? ¿Ha aumentado la exigencia del editor?
NO. La razón es que se ha publicado un artículo excelente y que toda la comunidad cristalográfica llevaba años esperando: A short history of SHELX por George M. Sheldrick, el «inventor» del programa SHELX, que es la herramienta computacional fundamental para refinar estructuras cristalográficas. Este artículo ha sido citado 6653 veces (a 25 de junio de 2010), con casi 6000 citas entre 2008 y 2009.
El segundo artículo más citado de Acta Crystallographica Section A ha sido citado 31 veces, el 10º más citado, 11 veces; hay 17 artículos que han sido citado 2 o una vez y hay 19 artículos que no han sido citados (de un total de 72 artículos publicados en 2008).
Como ya he pedido en este blog, leamos las publicaciones y veamos cuanto se ha citado cada artículo individualmente; especialmente, cuando tengamo que evaluar CVs para plazas, contratos, etc. Si seguimos teniendo en cuenta solo el índice de impacto de las revista, cometeremos injusticias. Si no cambiamos el sistema, solo me queda felicitar a los que hayan publicado en 2008 en Acta Crystallographica Section A, pues tendrán artículos con un IF de casi 50, aunque nunca haya sido citado.
P. D.: Por cierto, os habréis fijado que, sin cambiar prácticamente, la revista ha pasado de ser casi despreciada por los que solo publican por índice de impacto a ser una revista «excelente».
Bernardo Herradón
IQOG-CSIC
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