One thing to watch in this space: Thomson Reuters created the Impact Factor, which is a mechanism for ranking journals based on the citation count of a journal'

One thing to watch in this space: Thomson Reuters created the Impact Factor, which is a mechanism for ranking journals based on the citation count of a journal's published papers. This is the de facto way academics are judged and compared. The cynical view of a tenure application is that it basically boils down to adding up points for how many high-IF journals you've published in. They are now selling the IP division that owns the Impact Factor. No news just yet (as far as I am aware) on who will end up buying it, but depending on who it is I could potentially see some backlash (finally) within academia if there's an unavoidable conflict of interest (ie if Elsevier buys it). That said, inertia is stronger than anyone wants to admit in academia, so I wouldn't be surprised if IF stays the dominant force in academic reputation for a long time to come. But maybe, just maybe, the time is right for the fall of Impact Factor.