Concetta Press

@article{ciaccio2026TIF,
  title={Introduction of the True Impact Function (TIF) and the Journal Integrity Score (JIS) for Scholarly Journal Bibliographic Analysis},
  author={Ciaccio, Edward J.},
  journal={Journal of Biomedical Informatics and AI},
  volume={1},
  number={1},
  pages={3},
  year={2026},
  doi={10.5281/zenodo.20057778},
  publisher={Concetta Press},
  url={https://concettapress.net/article_introduction_ of_the_true_impact_function.html},
  pdf={https://concettapress.net/pdf/JBIAI_1_1_3(2026).pdf}
}

Abstract. Scholars place their completed studies in the public view so that they can be read and utilized by others, particularly by those in the same or similar fields. However, many barriers exist to prevent others from learning of the research effort. Article processing charges (APCs) are increasingly utilized by publishing houses to enable any reader access to work at no cost; however, authors must pay the fee. This Gold Open Access model is increasingly becoming the standard for academic publishing, with costs often ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 for exclusive journals. By comparison, if a publisher adheres to the Diamond Open Access model, the cost to both authors and readers is $0, enabling scholarly work to be accessed without barrier worldwide. Another issue is the lack of a transparent database to check journal ease-of-access and integrity. To address these challenges, the True Impact Function™ (TIF)—a real-time, dynamic calculation of citations per article—and the Journal Integrity Score™ (JIS), a 7-bit binary metric evaluating journal transparency and ease-of-use, are introduced. The JIS evaluates seven "pillars" of publishing: retraction history, formatting standards, word/figure limits, metadata entry requirements, decision speed, copyright retention, and APC costs. The utility of these tools is demonstrated by comparing a TIF snapshot (analysis - April 2026) against traditional metrics, including the Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF), for journals within the Cardiac & Cardiovascular category of the Journal Citation Reports™ (Clarivate Plc).

Keywords: bibliographic, citations, Harzing’s Publish or Perish, Impact Factor, OpenAlex