Last week a few things happened in the world of science. One was the publication of the Journal Impact Factors (JIFs)… Followed by journals saying how wonderful their JIF is… And then everyone else saying how awful impact factors are.
Methods in Ecology and Evolution is a journal, so naturally we’re obliged to take journal point of view. Which means we need to get really excited about how amazing impact factors are1. Even though we know we shouldn’t, we are really really excited to say that our impact factor for 2018 is…
7.099
Last year it was a lowly 6.3. This increase is great, especially as we are still in the top 10 of Ecology journals (at no. 9, having risen to be a massive 0.05 above Molecular Ecology Resources). If we were listed in Evolution, we would be at number 7. And if we were a biology journal, we would be at number 5. There’s evidently not a lot of biology going on nowadays.
1 unless of course our impact factor decreases
Methods Blog 
Congratulations! But also, shame on you? You’re right: everyone complains about JIF (unless it’s high!) but everyone keeps using it for hiring and promotion decisions.