Bibliometric Indices of Scientific Journals: Time to overcome the obsession and think beyond the Impact Factor

Journal Impact Factor (JIF) has been widely used for a long time as a proxy marker of journal prestige. However, off late, accuracy and reliability of JIF for evaluation of scientific journals has been increasingly questioned by numerous stakeholders in the field of scholarly publications. Having realized the perils and pitfalls of JIF, there is an increasing understanding among academia to develop and consider alternatives to the traditional JIF. It is possibly time for all concerned to understand the pros and cons of JIF to overcome this obsession. Limitations of JIF and possible alternative and emerging bibliometric indicators are being discussed in this article for the benefit of the readers of MJAFI.