Abstract
Citation analysis and Journal Impact Factor have become handy devises for tracing science and technology activities. In some EU countries today, they are systematically used to evaluate research and serve as important decision-making instruments for government R&D funding. While these measures are useful, their systematic application to research evaluation can also be harmful. Complaints of victims assessed by such means are regularly published in journals such as Science and Nature, in which abundant cautions and warnings reveal the danger of incorrect usage. In Japan, the creation of the National Institution for Academic Degrees and the advent of University Evaluation by external experts in April 2000 marked a key S&T policy development. With the evaluation of research institutions and researchers, however, comes the danger of using citation and impact factor indicators systematically for individual researcher evaluation or employment of R&D personnel. To use these methods correctly is critical and their accurate management should be of concern not only to those who evaluate, but also to those who are being evaluated. In this article, we depict the pitfalls of Citation and Journal Impact Factor analysis and draw attention to the danger of applying them to evaluate individual researchers without comprehensive knowledge and sufficient experience of their use.
