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Citation frequency: A biased measure of research impact significantly influenced by the geographical origin of research articles

Author

Listed:
  • Gerard Pasterkamp

    (Experimental Cardiology Laboratory)

  • Joris I. Rotmans

    (Experimental Cardiology Laboratory)

  • Dominique V. P. Kleijn

    (Experimental Cardiology Laboratory)

  • Cornelius Borst

    (Experimental Cardiology Laboratory)

Abstract

Context. The use of citation frequency and impact factor as measures of research quality and journal prestige is being criticized. Citation frequency is augmented by self-citation and for most journals the majority of citations originate from a minority of papers. We hypothesized that citation frequency is also associated with the geographical origin of the research publication. Objective. We determined whether citations originate more frequently from institutes that are located in the same country as the authors of the cited publication than would be expected by chance. Design. We screened citations referring to 1200 cardiovascular publications in the 7 years following their publication. For the 1200 citation recipient publications we documented the country where the research originated (9 countries/regions) and the total number of received citations. For a selection of 8864 citation donor papers we registered the country/region where the citing paper originated. Results. Self-citation was common in cardiovascular journals (n = 1534, 17.8%). After exclusion of self-citation, however, the number of citations that originated from the same country as the author of the citation recipient was found to be on average 31.6% higher than would be expected by chance (p

Suggested Citation

  • Gerard Pasterkamp & Joris I. Rotmans & Dominique V. P. Kleijn & Cornelius Borst, 2007. "Citation frequency: A biased measure of research impact significantly influenced by the geographical origin of research articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 70(1), pages 153-165, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:70:y:2007:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-007-0109-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-0109-5
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    1. Thed N. van Leeuwen & Henk F. Moed, 2005. "Characteristics of journal impact factors: The effects of uncitedness and citation distribution on the understanding of journal impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 63(2), pages 357-371, April.
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    6. John N. Parker & Christopher Lortie & Stefano Allesina, 2010. "Characterizing a scientific elite: the social characteristics of the most highly cited scientists in environmental science and ecology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(1), pages 129-143, October.
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    11. Fan, Lingxu & Guo, Lei & Wang, Xinhua & Xu, Liancheng & Liu, Fangai, 2022. "Does the author’s collaboration mode lead to papers’ different citation impacts? An empirical analysis based on propensity score matching," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).
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    13. Danielle H. Lee, 2019. "Predicting the research performance of early career scientists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(3), pages 1481-1504, December.
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    15. Christina H. Drew & Kristianna G. Pettibone & Fallis Owen Finch & Douglas Giles & Paul Jordan, 2016. "Automated Research Impact Assessment: a new bibliometrics approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 987-1005, March.
    16. Koen Frenken & Roderik Ponds & Frank Van Oort, 2010. "The citation impact of research collaboration in science‐based industries: A spatial‐institutional analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 351-271, June.
    17. Nomaler, Önder & Frenken, Koen & Heimeriks, Gaston, 2013. "Do more distant collaborations have more citation impact?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 966-971.
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