Impact Factors for the "Journal of Teaching in Physical Education"--What Are They and Are They Important?

• Published in: Journal of teaching in physical education Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 3 - 8
• Main Author: McBride, Ron
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Human Kinetics, Inc 01.01.2006
• Subjects: Computation; Evaluation Criteria; Periodicals; Physical Education; Reputation
• ISSN: 0273-5024
• DOI: 10.1123/jtpe.25.1.3

The notion of an impact factor was first posited by Eugene Garfield (1972) to study the use, prestige, and status of scientific journals. The Institute for Scientific Information created the impact factor as a means to measure the number of times an "average article" published in a journal was cited over a particular time period ("The impact factor," 2005). The impact factor helps evaluate a journal's relative importance both on an individual basis, as well as comparing it with others in the same field. In this editorial article, the author addresses the importance of "Journal of Teaching in Physical Education's" impact factor from both a personal and professional perspective, offers support for his assessment, and provides suggestions for improving its impact factor. Before proceeding it is important to note that, admittedly, the impact factor represents just one indicator of assessed value, and a journal should not necessarily be judged solely on this one measure. Nevertheless, because impact factors remain one of the most accepted and utilized criteria for assessing journal quality in the scientific and educational communities, they represent the focal point for this commentary. (Contains 1 table.)