Abstract

SANTOS REGO, Miguel A.  and  FERNANDEZ-RIOS, Luis. The rate of impact and the future of academic journals. The risk of pathologization. Innov. educ. (Méx. DF) [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.72, pp.35-52. ISSN 1665-2673.

Academic journals are one of the resources for spreading scientific knowledge, and in recent years there have been great changes in the publishing, evaluation and hierarchization of merit of journals. These processes are guided by the “Impact Factor” policies. The objective of this study is to reflect critically on the future of academic journals. Our reflection is centered on the “organizational pathology” of the struggle for the rate of impact as a kind of profitable “merchandise”. We also put forth a series of considerations on the pathology in the ways of collecting information to create all kinds of publications. The conclusion is that publications with an impact factor have a very promising future as long as they generate change in their scientific milieu.

Keywords : Bibliometric analysis; impact factor of academic journals; invisible colleges; pathologization of publications; sociology of knowledge.

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