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The self-cited rate of scientific journals and the manipulation of their impact factors

Author

Listed:
  • Guang Yu

    (Harbin Institute of Technology
    Library, Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Liang Wang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Owing to some discussions about manipulating impact factor by requesting authors to increase their citations to the publication journal, we theoretically establish a mathematical expression of a relation between the journal self-citation rate and its impact factor by the single-factor method in this paper. Based on self-citation data of some journals in JCR and the observed relation between journal impact factor and the self-cited rate, we analyze the possibility that journal editors manipulate impact factors of their journals by raising the self-cited rate. Finally, we make some suggestions for supervising this crude way of active manipulating the impact factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Guang Yu & Liang Wang, 2007. "The self-cited rate of scientific journals and the manipulation of their impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(3), pages 321-330, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:73:y:2007:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-007-1779-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1779-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ronald Rousseau & Guido Van Hooydonk, 1996. "Journal production and journal impact factors," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 47(10), pages 775-780, October.
    2. Guang Yu & Rui Guo & Yi-Jun Li, 2006. "The influence of publication delays on three ISI indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(3), pages 511-527, December.
    3. Guang Yu & Xiao-Hong Wang & Da-Ren Yu, 2005. "The influence of publication delays on impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 64(2), pages 235-246, August.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stefan N. Groesser, 2012. "Dynamics of Journal Impact Factors," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 624-644, November.
    2. Guang Yu & Dong-Hui Yang & Wang Liang, 2010. "Reliability-based citation impact factor and the manipulation of impact factor," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 83(1), pages 259-270, April.
    3. Jerome K. Vanclay, 2012. "Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 211-238, August.
    4. Antonio García Romero & José Navarrete Cortés & Cristina Escudero & Juan Antonio Fernández López & Juan Antonio Chaichío Moreno, 2009. "Measuring the influence of clinical trials citations on several bibliometric indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(3), pages 747-760, September.
    5. Dong-Hui Yang & Xin Li & Xiaoxia Sun & Jie Wan, 2016. "Detecting impact factor manipulation with data mining techniques," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1989-2005, December.
    6. Juan Miguel Campanario, 2010. "Distribution of changes in impact factors over time," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 35-42, July.
    7. Juan Miguel Campanario, 2018. "Journals that Rise from the Fourth Quartile to the First Quartile in Six Years or Less: Mechanisms of Change and the Role of Journal Self-Citations," Publications, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Chang, Yu-Wei, 2022. "Capability of non-English-speaking countries for securing a foothold in international journal publishing," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    9. Peter Jacso, 2012. "Grim tales about the impact factor and the h-index in the Web of Science and the Journal Citation Reports databases: reflections on Vanclay’s criticism," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 325-354, August.
    10. Chun-Yang Yin & Mohd Jindra Aris & Xi Chen, 2010. "Combination of Eigenfactor TM and h-index to evaluate scientific journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(3), pages 639-648, September.
    11. Martin Szomszor & David A. Pendlebury & Jonathan Adams, 2020. "How much is too much? The difference between research influence and self-citation excess," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 1119-1147, May.
    12. Antonia Andrade & Raúl González-Jonte & Juan Miguel Campanario, 2009. "Journals that increase their impact factor at least fourfold in a few years: The role of journal self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 515-528, August.
    13. Juan Miguel Campanario, 2014. "The effect of citations on the significance of decimal places in the computation of journal impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(2), pages 289-298, May.
    14. Daniel Teodorescu & Tudorel Andrei, 2014. "An examination of “citation circles” for social sciences journals in Eastern European countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(2), pages 209-231, May.

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