What the Impact Factor Means for Surgery Journals

The scientific journal impact factor, developed and owned by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was first mentioned in Science in 1955 by Eugene Garfield, and first applied in 1969. In the past 35 years this score has become the single most important ‘‘score’’ associated with scientific journals. In this essay we will look at the world of scientific, technical and medical journals, describe the impact factor and how it is calculated, and consider some alternative methods of rating the importance and relevance of a surgical publication.