20 years of bibliometric data illustrates a lack of concordance between journal impact factor and fungal species discovery in systematic mycology
Journal article, 2024
Journal impact factors were devised to qualify and compare university library holdings but are frequently repurposed for use in ranking applications, research papers, and even individual applicants in mycology and beyond. The widely held assumption that mycological studies published in journals with high impact factors add more to systematic mycology than studies published in journals without high impact factors nevertheless lacks evidential underpinning. The present study uses the species hypothesis system of the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi and other eukaryotes to trace the publication history and impact factor of sequences uncovering new fungal species hypotheses. The data show that journal impact factors are poor predictors of discovery potential in systematic mycology. There is no clear relationship between journal impact factor and the discovery of new species hypotheses for the years 2000–2021. On the contrary, we found journals with low, and even no, impact factor to account for substantial parts of the species hypothesis landscape, often discovering new fungal taxa that are only later picked up by journals with high impact factors. Funding agencies and hiring committees that insist on upholding journal impact factors as a central funding and recruitment criterion in systematic mycology should consider using indicators such as research quality, productivity, outreach activities, review services for scientific journals, and teaching ability directly rather than using publication in high impact factor journals as a proxy for these indicators.
Bibliometrics
mycology
impact factor
systematics
taxonomy
Author
R. Henrik Nilsson
University of Gothenburg
Arnold Tobias Jansson
University of Gothenburg
Christian Wurzbacher
Technical University of Munich
Sten Anslan
Estonian Institute of Ecology
University of Jyväskylä
Pauline H. Belford
University of Gothenburg
Natàlia Corcoll
University of Gothenburg
Alexandra Dombrowski
University of Gothenburg
Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad
Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
Mikael Gustavsson
University of Gothenburg
Daniela Gómez-Martínez
University of Gothenburg
Faheema Kalsoom Khan
Evolutionary Biology Centre
Maryia Khomich
University of Bergen
Charlotte Lennartsdotter
University of Gothenburg
David Lund
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Breyten Van Der Merwe
Stellenbosch University
Vladimir Mikryukov
Estonian Institute of Ecology
Marko Peterson
Estonian Institute of Ecology
Teresita M. Porter
Sergei Põlme
Estonian Institute of Ecology
Alice Retter
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
University of Vienna
Marisol Sánchez-García
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Sten Svantesson
Evolutionary Biology Centre
University of Gothenburg
Patrik Svedberg
University of Gothenburg
Duong Vu
CBS Fungal Biodiversity Center CBS - KNAW
M. Ryberg
Evolutionary Biology Centre
Kessy Abarenkov
Tartu Ülikooli loodusmuuseum
Erik Kristiansson
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
MycoKeys
1314-4057 (ISSN) 1314-4049 (eISSN)
Vol. 110 273-285Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Biological Systematics
Information Studies
Ecology
DOI
10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048
Related datasets
Sequences and journal data for https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.110.136048 [dataset]
DOI: 10.15156/BIO/3301226