CAJGH on Impact Factor
Posted on 2016-10-17“Science never solves a problem without creating ten more”
George Bernard Shaw
Dear Friends,
We are happy to be back after the summer break. With the first day of classes coming up, what will be your impact in the year to come? In the past few decades, impact factor has become the new currency of the scientific world. Success in academia including grants, promotion and recognition depend on the person’s ability to publish research in the high quality journals, which are usually associated with high impact factor. However, the impact factor for journals in various fields is very different, as maximum impact factor for molecular biology is significantly higher than, say, mathematics. Nevertheless, we all play this game, and though at times it feels unfair, there are only a few alternatives. Scientists in the developing countries are at particular disadvantage in the game of impact factor, as they produce only a fraction of articles published in the international scientific journals. In 2015, Central Asian countries contributed less than 0.5% of the worldwide published articles, Russia contributed 2%, whereas, USA and China produced 22% and 16% of the worldwide published documents respectively. The reason for this can be multifold, including language barrier, insufficient funding, or inadequate research methodology. According to our own experience in developing our Central Asian Journal of Global Health, weaknesses of research methods seems to be the most prevalent cause of article rejection, at least in the public health area. As a result, educating researchers of developing countries in research methods and statistics becomes extremely important. In order to do that, our team has developed Euclid's Statistical Matrix, a site which contains chosen books and lectures on basic statistics (http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/ResearchMethods/StatisticsMatrix.htm).
Also, did you know that the journal with the highest impact factor in 2015 is CA: A Cancer Journal For Clinicians with impact factor at 131.723?
We at CAJGH are trying to encourage scientists around the world to publish their best scientific evidence and identify key barriers that prevent some countries from publishing their scientific data. In brainstorming about such barriers, our group came up with the concept of a Scientific Banana republic. As you prepare for your next class (as a student or the teacher), why not take a break and read about Scientific Banana Republics in our recently published editorial:
“…A Scientific Banana Republic is a country that is very limited in the kind of biomedical (or scientific) research it can do, due to mostly focusing on producing and exporting raw research data, predominantly in the various fields of infectious diseases. This concept is related to a well published concept of Scientific Imperialism and Safari Research, where science may be dominated by the scientific interests of developed countries...” What do you think about this concept? Please see the full text article and many others in the link below: http://cajgh.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cajgh/issue/view/12
For more research on health issues in Central Asian and around the globe please visit the page of our journal (http://cajgh.pitt.edu/). Reading and publishing in our journal is absolutely free!
Please e-mail us on cajgh.news@gmail.com if you would like to become part of our newsletter. Your opinion matters!
CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF GLOBAL HEALTH
Central Asian Journal of Global Health is a biannual journal aimed at everybody working in the fields of public health and medicine. Specifically, it aims to focus on the geographic region that is oftentimes not sufficiently highlighted by existing journals, Central Asian countries. In addition to research in Central Asia, the journal is opened to submissions from other countries. It provides forum for discussion for all aspects of public health, medicine, and global health in Central Asia and around the world. We welcome contributions from established researchers, especially those working on cutting edge questions, but we are also keen to act as a supportive environment for new investigators and with those who never published in English language journals.
We appreciate your time! Thank you for reading our newsletter! And please feel free to share this Newsletter with your friends and colleagues!
For automatic unsubscribing from this list, please send a message to cajgh-unsubscribe@list.pitt.edu from the e-mail address you want to unsubscribe the newsletter. You should get an email with a confirmation link which you will need to click to unsubscribe. You will be missed! If you are unable to unsubscribe or have any other questions, please reply to this message with your concerns or questions.
Best wishes,
Faina Linkov, PhD
Editor-in-Chief,
Central Asian Journal of Global Health
Shalkar Adambekov, MSc
Central Asian Editorial Board,
Central Asian Journal of Global Health