Measuring quality in science
Jean-François ROULET
DDS, PhD, Dr hc, Prof hc, Professor
Editor-in-Chief
Using a reproducible and valid parameter is the base of every evaluation. Quality control means evaluation, which is divided
into evaluation of the process quality and evaluation of the outcome quality. Process quality means that the manufacturer is
required to define all processes that yield the product. The CE certificate of a company means that the company has proven
that it meticulously sticks to the processes they have defined themselves. FDA basically does the same, when it comes to
medical products. The outcome quality makes sure that the product meets its specifications and serves the intended purpose
without showing negative, not tolerable side effects. So far so good for manufacturers. When it comes to dental products, of
course the dentist has a big influence on the outcome and we should not forget his influence on the patient’s behavior and
life style.
You can consider publications or journals as products as well. So having some sort of quality control seems reasonable.
The process control in publication is for sure a very stringent editorial process and peer review. With this, as done with the
Stomatology Education Journal, the reader may know that the paper is sound and that they may be able to find out what
was done, how it was done and how valid it is, so they can make up their own mind. But how to evaluate the quality of a
journal? Eugene Garfield, the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) came up with the idea to look at citations
from a journal to evaluate its quality. The idea is, the more citations, the better the quality of the journal. The outcome is
the imp