Metrics can mislead and be gamed

Used badly, metrics distort behaviour — chasing high-JIF journals, salami-slicing papers, citation cartels. The global research community has pushed back with principles for responsible metrics.

  • DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) — do not use journal metrics like the JIF to judge individual articles or people.
  • The Leiden Manifesto — ten principles, e.g. quantitative metrics should support, not replace, expert judgement.
Worked example — a DORA-aligned decision
A hiring panel is tempted to rank candidates by the Impact Factors of their journals. DORA says: don’t. Instead, read a few of each candidate’s actual papers and consider varied evidence of contribution — data, software, mentoring, real-world impact. Metrics inform; they do not decide.

🔗 Learn more (free): DORA — San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment

Try it
Read one principle from DORA (sfdora.org) or the Leiden Manifesto. Where have you seen it followed — or broken?

Self-check

State, in one sentence, the core message DORA gives about using the Journal Impact Factor to evaluate people.

© FRELIP, released under CC BY 4.0. Adapted in part from openly-licensed UNESCO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) and institutional research-support materials. Linked resources remain under their own licences. Curated by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.

Última alteração: quinta-feira, 4 de junho de 2026 às 12:48