Publication 375

This article focuses on certain aspects of the methods of evaluation of scientific publications and especially on the influence of those publications. We argue that positive or negative appraisal of the “impact factor” for scientific publications cannot be judged properly out of the systemic context of the contemporary scientific problematic and relevant practices. Thus we comment on these practices in the context of a second-order cybernetic scope, focusing on critical issues of observing science and presented scientific results, in comparison with the problems arising from concepts such as “truism” or “validation.”