What is the F1000 Factor and rating system?
The F1000 Biology rating system was designed in consultation with hundreds of scientists before creating Faculty of 1000 Biology. The system we use is meant to indicate how widespread the readership of a paper would be. There are three ratings: a rating of “Recommended” is given to a paper of interest to perhaps just one section or subject area (i.e. of specialist interest); “Must read” papers are of interest to more than one subject/section (i.e. of general interest); the “Exceptional” rating is given to a landmark paper representing the top 5% of publications each year (i.e. of very wide-ranging impact). Ratings are combined into an overall ranking (or F1000 factor), which reflects a weighted average of all the ratings. A full explanation is available on the website.
