18.733 how is impact measured?

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 733.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 08:22:19 +0100I don't know nor understand
very well the impact factor measurement and so would like to ask these
questions to those of you who know more:

* is there only one way/one 'authority' to measure the impact factor of 1
document (say an article published by a scientific journal)? or there many
ways/'authorities'?

* would it be possible to create a false impact factor by a group of
authors routinely citing each other in every document they publish? not
even with the clear intention to obtain/produce a fake impact factor
measurement, but only because they 'usually cite each other' ?
         From: maurizio lana <m.lana_at_lett.unipmn.it>
         Subject: meaning of impact factor

many thanks for your help.
maurizio

Maurizio Lana - ricercatore
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici - Universit=E0 del Piemonte Orientale a=
  Vercelli
via Manzoni 8, I-13100 Vercelli
+39 347 7370925 / +39 011 8609843
Received on Sat Apr 23 2005 - 04:24:47 EDT