Editing Impact factor (section)

===Inapplicability of impact factor to individuals and between-discipline differences===
It has been stated that impact factors in particular and citation analysis in general are affected by field-dependent factors<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bornmann L, Daniel HD |year=2008 |title=What do citation counts measure? A review of studies on citing behavior |journal=Journal of Documentation |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=45–80 |doi=10.1108/00220410810844150 |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0013-7A94-3|s2cid=17260826 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> which invalidate comparisons not only across disciplines but even within different fields of research of one discipline.<ref>{{cite SSRN |vauthors=Anauati MV, Galiani S, Gálvez RM |title= Quantifying the Life Cycle of Scholarly Articles Across Fields of Economic Research |date=11 November 2014 |ssrn=2523078}}</ref> The percentage of total citations occurring in the first two years after publication also varies highly among disciplines from 1–3% in the mathematical and physical sciences to 5–8% in the biological sciences.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=van Nierop E |title=Why Do Statistics Journals Have Low Impact Factors? |journal=Statistica Neerlandica |volume=63 |issue=1 |year=2009 |pages=52–62 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9574.2008.00408.x|s2cid=247704905 }}</ref> Thus impact factors cannot be used to compare journals across disciplines.

Impact factors are sometimes used to evaluate not only the journals but the papers therein, thereby devaluing papers in certain subjects.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bohannon J |title=Hate journal impact factors? New study gives you one more reason |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |year=2016 |doi=10.1126/science.aag0643}}</ref> In 2004, the [[Higher Education Funding Council for England]] was urged by the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] [[Science and Technology Select Committee]] to remind [[Research Assessment Exercise]] panels that they are obliged to assess the quality of the content of individual articles, not the reputation of the journal in which they are published.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/39912.htm |title=House of Commons – Science and Technology – Tenth Report |access-date=2008-07-28 |date=2004-07-07}}</ref> Other studies have repeatedly stated that impact factor is a metric for journals and should not be used to assess individual researchers or institutions.<ref name=Seglen-BMJ>{{cite journal |vauthors=Seglen PO |title=Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research |journal=BMJ |volume=314 |issue=7079 |pages=498–502 |date=February 1997 |pmid=9056804 |pmc=2126010 |doi=10.1136/bmj.314.7079.497}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=EASE Statement on Inappropriate Use of Impact Factors |website=European Association of Science Editors |date=November 2007 |access-date=2013-04-13 |url=http://www.ease.org.uk/publications/impact-factor-statement |archive-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814150306/http://www.ease.org.uk/publications/impact-factor-statement |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |vauthors=Wilsdon J, Allen L, Belfiore E, Campbell P, Curry S, Hill S, Jones R, Kain R, Kerridge S, Thelwall M, Tinkler J |display-authors=6 |date=July 2015 |title=The Metric Tide: Report of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment and Management |doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.4929.1363}}</ref>