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Looking at the Impact Factor of a Journal can help but it's not perfect. For example Nature and Science, generally considered the most prestigious journals in t
by deeeeplearning 6y ago
Looking at the Impact Factor of a Journal can help but it's not perfect. For example Nature and Science, generally considered the most prestigious journals in the world, have impact factors around 1000 and smaller but still quality niche Physics journals might be in the low hundreds.
The bottom line is that as a Layperson it would be extremely difficult to vet the validity of any given paper let alone whole journals.
https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php
- jwally 6y agoBookmarking that. Thank you! I think I was starting to draw that conclusion. If a claim is in the Lancet, NEMJ, Nature, etc; its probably pretty credible. If a claim is in another journal; it shouldn't have much bearing on my decision (positive or negative) since I don't have the expertise to evaluate it.
- alisonkisk 6y agoBut how do you know those are credible? It's fundamentally impossible to decide from first principles. You have to choose where to put your faith. Longstanding reputation is one popular way, but old things can sell out, or can be fairy tails (like at least all but one religions).
- deeeeplearning 6y agoRight but at least Impact Factor gives you some kind of objective idea of the importance of a journal. Most researchers know Science and Nature are elite journals and impact factor at least backs that up by showing that their papers are highly cited by other "experts" in the field. But as I said it's still not perfect.