![\"\"](\"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/app\/uploads\/sites\/80\/2020\/03\/plos2.jpg\")
\n\nFigure 59<\/a>\n\nImpact factor can go into the 30s, but we\u2019re using this as a quick elimination test, not a ranking, so we\u2019re happy with anything over 1. We still have work to do on this article, but it\u2019s worth keeping in the mix.\n\nWhat about this one?\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/app\/uploads\/sites\/80\/2020\/03\/webbb.jpg\")
\n\nFigure 60<\/a>\n\nIn this case we get a result with a link to this journal at the top, but no panel, as there is no registered impact factor for this journal:\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/app\/uploads\/sites\/80\/2020\/03\/imp.jpg\")
\n\nFigure 61<\/a>\n\nAgain, we stress that the article here may be excellent--we don\u2019t know. Likewise, there are occasionally articles published in the most prestigious journals that are pure junk. Be careful in your use of impact factor; a journal with an impact factor of 10 is not necessarily better than a journal with an impact factor of 3, especially if you are dealing with a niche subject.\n\nBut in a quick and dirty analysis, we have to say that the PLOS Medicine<\/em> article is more trustworthy than the Journal of Obesity and Weight-loss Medication<\/em> article. In fact, if you were deciding whether to reshare a story in your feed and the evidence for the story came from this Obesity<\/em> journal, I\u2019d skip reposting it entirely.\n\n ","rendered":"I mentioned earlier that this process is one of elimination. In a world where information is plentiful, we can be a bit demanding about what counts as evidence. When it comes to research, one gating expectation can be that published academic research cited for a claim comes from respected peer-reviewed journals.<\/p>\n
Consider this journal:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/app\/uploads\/sites\/80\/2017\/02\/plos.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 58<\/a><\/p>\n Is it a journal that gives any authority to this article? Or is it just another web-based paper mill?<\/p>\n Our first check is to see what the \u201cimpact factor\u201d of the journal is. This is a measure of the journal\u2019s influence in the academic community. While a flawed metric for assessing the relative importance of journals, it is a useful tool for quickly identifying journals that are not part of a known circle of academic discourse, or that are not peer-reviewed.<\/p>\n We search Google<\/em> for PLOS Medicine<\/em>, and it pulls up a knowledge panel for us with an impact factor.<\/p>\n Figure 59<\/a><\/p>\n Impact factor can go into the 30s, but we\u2019re using this as a quick elimination test, not a ranking, so we\u2019re happy with anything over 1. We still have work to do on this article, but it\u2019s worth keeping in the mix.<\/p>\n What about this one?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n