Impact factor and the future of Acta Paediatrica and other European medical journals

Most European medical journals attain very low impact factors, as reported in Journal Citation Reports, and from the European point of view the depressing outlook is continually falling values. Among many reasons behind the low impact factor of European journals is citation bias as a consequence of the low prestige of European journals. In the case of Acta Paediatrica, which has published between 4 and 15 supplements annually during the period 1994-98, the low impact factor of the articles included in these supplements reduces the overall impact factor to less than half of what it would be had no supplements been published, i.e. from 1.88 to 0.81. It is obvious that by refusing to publish supplements the impact factor of Acta Paediatrica would be dramatically elevated. Some of the supplements, such as the one on persistent diarrhoeal disease which had to be reprinted as the original edition was sold out (1), are undoubtedly of great educational value and have an important role as sources of references. However, it is difficult for Acta Paediatrica to continue to publish supplements because of the load imposed on the impact factor of the journal. It is suggested that a scientific committee within the European Union seriously considers the importance of supporting European Biomedical Science, and that one way of doing so is to improve the prestige and quality of European journals.