[Taxacom] Fwd: Zootaxa taken off of JCR

[Doug Yanega]

Some (many?) of you may have heard that some major taxonomic journals, 
including Zootaxa and the International Journal of Systematic and 
Evolutionary Microbiology, have just been removed entirely from Impact 
Factor indexing, jeopardizing the future of taxonomic research by 
penalizing taxonomists who choose and have chosen to publish in these or 
other suppressed journals.

For those who find this a significant concern, I am sharing below a 
message from Frank-Thorsten Krell, a fellow ICZN Commissioner, which 
gives some useful background and relevant links. I have the sense, 
likely shared by others, that this may be a /fait accompli/, a decision 
not subject to review or reversal, but *maybe* there are some human 
beings involved in this decision who can be contacted and persuaded to 
reconsider. Some of the information Frank presents below may be helpful 
in making the case.


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Zootaxa taken off of JCR
Date: 	Fri, 3 Jul 2020 05:33:35 +0000
From: 	Frank T. Krell <Frank.Krell at dmns.org>
To: 	(recipient list suppressed)



I have written about impact factor suppression six years ago: 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270396659_Losing_the_numbers_game_abundant_journal_self-citations_put_journals_at_risk_for_a_life_without_Impact_Factor 


Abstract:  “To counteract impact factor manipulations by editors, in 
2008 Thomson Reuters started suppressing journals with abundant 
self-citations and excluding them from the Journal Citation Reports® for 
two years. The number of banned journals rose from 9 in 2007 to 66 in 
2012. Abundant journal self-citations can be due to the nature of the 
journal or unethical strategies of editors, such as coercive citations 
or citation cartels. Regardless of whether unethical behaviour was 
involved, journals with excessive self-citations are suppressed by 
Thomson Reuters. While unethical behaviour should be discouraged, 
depriving the accused journals of the benefit of the doubt can lead to 
unfair treatment.”


Now Zootaxa, but also the International Journal of Systematic and 
Evolutionary Microbiology, the official journal of record for new 
microbial taxa, fell into that trap.

Yesterday I submitted a Correspondence to Nature about that (which will 
be rejected in about 15 days – or not):

“Impact Factor—Taxonomy cannot win

Twenty years ago, I laid out why Impact Factors don’t work as 
performance indicators for taxonomic research (Nature *405*, 507–508; 
2000; *415*, 957; 2002), referring to the lack of core-journals as one 
of the reasons. While taxonomical publishing is still extremely 
fragmented, more than most other fields, there are examples of 
successful consolidation. One is /Zootaxa/, a mega-journal that 
meanwhile publishes about 25% of all new zoological species and other 
taxa (Z.-Q. Zhang, /Zootaxa/ *4000*, 596–600; 2015). Another example is 
the /International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology/, 
the official journal of record for new microbial taxa. According to the 
/International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes/, all new prokaryote 
names have to be published or get validated in this one journal (C.T. 
Parker /et al./, /Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microb./ *69*, S1–S111; 2019). Now 
Clarivate Plc, the owner of the Journal Impact Factor, has revoked the 
2019 Impact Factors for both those and 31 other journals because of 
their high rate of journal self-citations 
(https://retractionwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Title-Suppress-2.pdf). 
Revoking Journal Impact Factors has been a means to fight attempts of 
citation manipulations by journals since 2008 (F.-T. Krell, /Eur. Sci. 
Ed./ *40*, 36–38; 2014). However, in journals dominating a field or 
being a mandatory outlet, such high rates are expected and unavoidable, 
and not necessarily indicating a manipulative strategy. Depriving 
leading taxonomic journals of their Journal Impact Factors can have 
devastating effects on the evaluation of taxonomists and on taxonomy as 
a whole, as long as this metric is still used as a performance indicator 
for publishing scientists.

*Frank-T. Krell *Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, USA.

frank.krell at dmns.org <mailto:frank.krell at dmns.org>”


Here are the links to the referenced Nature correspondences:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12467244_Impact_factors_aren%27t_relevant_to_taxonomy 


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11486254_Why_impact_factors_don%27t_work_for_taxonomy 


This action of Clarivate can have extremely negative consequences for 
taxonomists evaluated by Impact Factor-counters. It can have negative 
consequences for Zootaxa. It can even have negative consequences for 
taxonomy as a whole as one of the most prominent taxonomic outlets is 
now no longer an option for many academic taxonomists. Very bad and 
annoying.


I see little hope that academic administrators around the world will 
suddenly become educated and understand the shortcomings of the Journal 
Impact Factor. I would guess that the Impact Factor is here to stay and 
will be senselessly applied to evaluate scientists. Oh, I wrote about 
that, too:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267329241_The_Journal_Impact_Factor_as_a_performance_indicator 


This only for people who want to know more about the Impact Factor game.

We need to consider how taxonomy and success of taxonomists are 
evaluated and measured in academia. Publications are key. For our long 
term strategy, we need to avoid all unintended consequences that further 
harm the taxonomic enterprise (additionally to lack of funding, 
increasing, often lethal red tape, lack of career opportunities for new 
blood, etc. etc.).

Cheers

Frank

Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell

Senior Curator of Entomology, Editor-in-Chief

Commissioner and Councillor, International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature

Department of Zoology

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

2001 Colorado Blvd

Denver, Colorado 80205-5798, U.S.A.

Frank.krell at dmns.org <mailto:Frank.krell at dmns.org>

Phone 303.370.8244

Fax 303.331.6492

https://www.dmns.org/science/zoology/staff/frank-krell/