BIBLIOMETRIC INDEX

The institute of Scientific Information has edited an index to evaluat e the diffusion of scientific articles. It is based on the fact that t he more an article is cited as a reference in other articles, the more it is considered to be important, and the higher the coefficient attr ibuted to the journal in which it was originally published. The impact factor takes into account the average number of times which a journal is mentioned for recent articles published in a given year. This inde x is an attempt to quantify the notoriety of scientific journal for al l scientific medical specialities.