impact factor and transparency

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       Founding members Siobhan Reynolds Kevin Byers Vanessa Mullin Alen J Salerian

Solange MacArthur

  Impact Factor And Transparency

  Impact factor seems to be of essence for scientific journals. No doubt our views of a particular study is influenced by where it's published and the impact factor of the Journal.

  My concern is the process of article submission and acceptance lacks transparency. Any process that's secretive is open to exploitation. The traditional view of not revealing the identity of reviewers presents a major flaw for the current system by giving the impression that  there is a glass ceiling.

  There is a common myth that important ideas  only come from  high impact journals. As if the content of an article is not enough for its validity. 2+2 = 4 whether it's published in New England Journal of Medicine or a lesser-known low impact factor journal.

  Impact factor is a useful tool. I will have much more confidence in it with a totally transparent article selection process.

 In all sports referees are transparent. If sports can do it, science should be able to do it as well.