View Point - Citation, Impact Factor and Indian journal of surgery

Market economy, WTO issues and globalisation are some of the phrases on the tongue of people these days. Parallel to that in the scientific field, people have started taking about, impact factor, citation index etc. Scientists have started evaluating the scientific journals, scientific articles and even scientific institutions in terms of these parameters. The increasing awareness of journal impact factor and the possibility of their use in evaluation have started changing scientist′s publication behavior while selecting the journal to report their work. They may choose a journal of high impact often at the cost of a specialist journal which might actually be more appropriate to publish their work. An attempt has been made to create awareness about these and also the significance of these terms in relation to Indian Journal of Surgery is discussed.