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Sci. Signal., 1 December 2009
Vol. 2, Issue 99, p. eg15
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.299eg15]

EDITORIAL GUIDES

Living by the Numbers

Michael B. Yaffe1,2*

1 Chief Scientific Editor of Science Signaling, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20005, USA.
2 Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Departments of Biology and Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Abstract: Quantitation of an article's worth by the impact of the journal in which it appears is a path to undermining scientific enterprise. Through a process analogous to rating medical care, rating journals can lead to loss of research effort in the most challenging questions. A paper should be evaluated on its own impact, not by some arbitrary score for the journal as a whole.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: myaffe{at}mit.edu

Citation: M. B. Yaffe, Living by the Numbers. Sci. Signal. 2, eg15 (2009).

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