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To cite or not to cite: author self-citations and the impact factor

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  • James Hartley

    (Keele University)

Abstract

Author self-citations are another factor that affects the impact factor of a journal. Typically these self-citations are just counted as such. But to be more meaningful I suggest that when examining the contribution of authors’ self-citations to impact factors one should first count the number of citations in the text rather than in the reference list, and then discriminate between different kinds of author self-citations—from those that are informative to those that are self-enhancing—if these data are to be more credible.

Suggested Citation

  • James Hartley, 2012. "To cite or not to cite: author self-citations and the impact factor," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 313-317, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:92:y:2012:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0568-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0568-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. P. Pichappan & S. Sarasvady, 2002. "The other side of the coin: The intricacies of author self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 54(2), pages 285-290, June.
    2. James Hartley, 2009. "On the need to distinguish between author and journal self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(3), pages 787-788, December.
    3. Wolfgang Glänzel & Bart Thijs, 2004. "The influence of author self-citations on bibliometric macro indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 59(3), pages 281-310, March.
    4. Wolfgang Glänzel & Bart Thijs, 2004. "Does co-authorship inflate the share of self-citations?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 61(3), pages 395-404, November.
    5. Dag W. Aksnes, 2003. "A macro study of self-citation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 56(2), pages 235-246, February.
    6. Wolfgang Glänzel & Koenraad Debackere & Bart Thijs & András Schubert, 2006. "A concise review on the role of author self-citations in information science, bibliometrics and science policy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(2), pages 263-277, May.
    7. András Schubert & Wolfgang Glänzel & Bart Thijs, 2006. "The weight of author self-citations. A fractional approach to self-citation counting," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(3), pages 503-514, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Frode Eika Sandnes, 2020. "A simple back-of-the-envelope test for self-citations using Google Scholar author profiles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1685-1689, August.
    2. Gualberto Buela-Casal & Izabela Zych, 2012. "What do the scientists think about the impact factor?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 281-292, August.
    3. Loizides, Orestis-Stavros & Koutsakis, Polychronis, 2017. "On evaluating the quality of a computer science/computer engineering conference," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 541-552.
    4. Guillermo Armando Ronda-Pupo & Luis Ángel Guerras-Martín, 2016. "Collaboration network of knowledge creation and dissemination on Management research: ranking the leading institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 917-939, June.
    5. Mingyang Wang & Shijia Jiao & Kah-Hin Chai & Guangsheng Chen, 2019. "Building journal’s long-term impact: using indicators detected from the sustained active articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 261-283, October.
    6. James Hartley & Guillaume Cabanac, 2015. "An academic odyssey: writing over time," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(3), pages 1073-1082, June.
    7. Shubhanshu Mishra & Brent D Fegley & Jana Diesner & Vetle I Torvik, 2018. "Self-citation is the hallmark of productive authors, of any gender," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Filippo Radicchi & Claudio Castellano, 2013. "Analysis of bibliometric indicators for individual scholars in a large data set," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(3), pages 627-637, December.

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