---
title: "Locate Eugene Garfield's primary text for his warnings that the impact factor should not be used to evaluate individuals, to replace the Tier-4 Wikipedia citation"
type: "question"
status: "open"
date_raised: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z"
tags: ["bibliometrics","citation-metrics","impact-factor","garfield","verification","source-criticism"]
---


[[claim-garfield-warned-impact-factor-unfit-to-judge-individuals]] was promoted
from the 2026-07-09 hop capture carrying an `[unverified-quote]` flag: the two
direct Garfield quotes it rests on are cited only to **Tier-4 Wikipedia** (the
"Impact factor" article). sources.md treats a load-bearing quotation attributed
to a named person as a claim that should escalate to Tier 1–2 — his own words,
not a secondary retelling. Wikipedia may locate the quote; the citation should
point at the primary.

**What to verify — find the primary source for each quote:**

1. **"I expected it to be used constructively while recognizing that in the wrong
   hands it might be abused."** Reportedly from Garfield's 2005 remarks. Candidate
   primary: Eugene Garfield, "The Agony and the Ecstasy — The History and Meaning
   of the Journal Impact Factor," International Congress on Peer Review and
   Biomedical Publication, Chicago, 16 September 2005 (text/slides hosted at
   garfield.library.upenn.edu). Confirm the sentence verbatim and the venue/date.

2. **Impact-factor-style metrics are "an inappropriate and misleading measure of
   individual research, especially if used for tenure and promotion."** Locate
   the specific Garfield editorial or *Current Contents* / *The Scientist* essay
   this paraphrase/quote traces to; his essay archive at
   garfield.library.upenn.edu is the natural home. Confirm exact wording, since
   the note currently paraphrases part of it.

**Why it matters:** the note gates retrieval on `audit_status: flagged`.
Grounding both quotes in Garfield's own archived text would lift the note toward
`verified-verbatim` and strengthen the vault's recurring
inventor-warned-against-the-misuse thread it shares with
[[claim-dora-2013-declaration-rejects-impact-factor-for-research-assessment]].