人在屋檐下，哪能不低头

《美国物理杂志》（American Journal of Physics, AJP）是一份极其优秀的大学物理教学杂志，其中的文章大多能把前沿的物理研究用大学普通物理讲明白、说清楚。赵凯华老师的《定性和半定量物理学》就采用了其中的许多例子，张江敏也特别努力地争取在上面发一两篇文章。这样的教学杂志，当然是读者多而引用少了，但是，在“科学计量学”（也就是“数豆子”法，bean-counting）的大潮下，AJP也不能幸免。

前几天，偶然看见AJP的前任副主编Schroeder在2017年第85卷第6期里吐槽：文章的好坏居然不是看有没有使用，而是看有没有人引用。I just never understood that the criterion for accepting a paper should be not whether other readers will use it, but whether other authors will cite it.

其实，提高引用率的技巧大家都懂，Schroeder也顺便演示了一下：两百来个单词的短文，引用了12篇参考文献，而且全部来自于AJP——效率太高了！

容易当然是很容易，但是，“智者不为非其事，廉者不求非其有”。噫！孰知泰西万里之遥，亦有智与廉者如斯也。

An Apology from the Fomer Associate Editor

American Journal of Physics 85, 405 (2017);

https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4981790

Daniel V. Schroeder

This year my dean, for the first time ever, required all the science faculty to report the impact factor of each journal in which we had published a paper.

When I saw this requirement it hit me: Our little regional university is undoubtedly the last to catch up with this trend. The vast majority of AJP's authors have surely been under the thumbs of bean-counting administrators[1] for many years. And that means I owe those authors an apology.

You see, throughout my recent five-year stint as AJP's associate editor, and my many years as a reviewer[2] before that, I just never understood that the criterion for accepting a paper should be not whether other readers will use it, but whether other authors will cite it[3]. However, it would be best if all future Resource Letters cite only articles in AJP itself. It does not serve this journal's interest to pump up the impact factors of other journals. Similarly, I never realized that AJP should expect its authors to cite as many other AJP papers as possible—relevant or not[4]—in order to help our other authors run up their citation counts and h-indexes. Preferably these citations should be to papers published within the previous two years[5],so they'll count toward AJP's all-important impact factor.

I sincerely apologize to all AJP authors whose careers have been held back by my thoughtlessness.

References

1. 1. Just as AJP itself has been under the thumbs of bean-counting librarians, as described by D. P. Jackson , “ Appropriate journal use in the modern age,” Am. J. Phys. 84(1), 5–6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4937116, Google ScholarScitation

2. 2. Please take note, all reviewers listed in D. P. Jackson and D. V. Schroeder , “ AJP reviewers,” Am. J. Phys. 83(12), 989–990 (2015); and https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4935257, Google ScholarScitation
   D. P. Jackson , “ AJP reviewers,” Am. J. Phys. 84(12), 901–902 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4966631, Google ScholarScitation

3. 3. For instance, AJP really should publish fewer regular papers and more of its highly citable Resource Letters, such as B. W. Dreyfus , B. D. Geller , D. E. Meltzer , and V. Sawtelle , “ Resource letter TTSM-1: Teaching thermodynamics and statistical mechanics in introductory physics, chemistry, and biology,” Am. J. Phys. 83(1), 5–21 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4891673, Google ScholarScitation, CAS
   D. T. Jacobs , “ Resource letter SOP-1: Self-organizing physics,” Am. J. Phys. 83(8), 680–687 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4922338, Google ScholarScitation
   D. N. Baker and L. J. Lanzerotti , “ Resource letter SW-1: Space weather,” Am. J. Phys. 84(3), 166–180 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4938403, Google ScholarScitation
   F. W. Strauch , “ Resource letter QI-1: Quantum information,” Am. J. Phys. 84(7), 495–507 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4948608, Google ScholarScitation
   B. C. Reed , “ Resource letter MP-3: The Manhattan project and related nuclear research,” Am. J. Phys. 84(10), 734–745 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4961499, Google ScholarScitation
   and M. C. Goodman , “ Resource letter ANP-1: Advances in neutrino physics,” Am. J. Phys. 84(12), 907–916 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4962228 However, it would be best if all future Resource Letters cite only articles in AJP itself. It does not serve this journal's interest to pump up the impact factors of other journals. Google ScholarScitation, CAS

4. 4. And it can't possibly hurt to cite a paper by the editor himself, such as D. P. Jackson , D. Mertens , and B. J. Pearson , “ Hurricane balls: A rigid-body-motion project for undergraduates,” Am. J. Phys. 83(11), 959–968 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4930087, Google ScholarScitation

5. 5. More precisely, within the two calendar years preceding the year of publication, so there's still time to cite A. Schetnikov , V. Matiunin , and V. Chernov , “ Conical shape of frozen water droplets,” Am. J. Phys. 83(1), 36–38 (2015), https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4897499, Google ScholarScitation, CAS
   but it's too early to bother citing T. Opatrný , L. Richterek , and P. Bakala , “ Life under a black sun,” Am. J. Phys. 85(1), 14–22 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4966905, Google ScholarScitation