<p>hi folks,</p>
<p>i’d like to get a “historical” perspective (let’s say last 15 yrs or so) on the growing importance of the impact factor.</p>
<p>i’m a very recent faculty member at a university in Asia. i can tell u that EVERYTHING is about impact factor. it is the be-all of one’s academic output. yet, i hear that in north america, as of late, IF is of GROWING importance.</p>
<p>i’m not familiar with an academic world where IF isn’t everything. what was it like before this? it’s said now, that a PhD dissertation can simply be a collection of 3 or 4 articles that one publishes in SCI journals - i imagine that this is due to the increased significance of IF. but in the “old” days, wasn’t there any effort to publish one’s dissertation in journals - or was the published dissertation, in and of itself, viewed as good enough?</p>
<p>just curious to know what academics/publishing used to be like, and where it might be heading.</p>