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Quality Weighted Citations Versus Total Citations in the Sciences and Social Sciences, with an Application to Finance and Accounting

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  • Chia-Lin Chang

    (Department of Applied Economics, Department of Finance, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan.)

  • Michael McAleer

    (Econometric Institute, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands, Department of Quantitative Economics, Complutense University of Madrid, and Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University.)

Abstract

The premise underlying the use of citations data is that higher quality journals generally have a higher number of citations. The impact of citations can be distorted in a number of ways. Journals can, and do, inflate the number of citations through self citation practices, which may be coercive. Another method for distorting journal impact is through a set of journals agreeing to cite each other, that is, by exchanging citations. This may be less coercive than self citations, but is nonetheless unprofessional and distortionary. Both journal self citations and exchanged citations have the effect of increasing a journal’s impact factor, which may be deceptive. The paper analyses academic journal quality and research impact using quality weighted citations versus total citations, based on the widely-used Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science citations database (ISI). A new Index of Citations Quality (ICQ) is presented, based on quality weighted citations. The new index is used to analyse the leading 500 journals in both the Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as 58 leading journals in Finance and Accounting, using quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs) that are based on alternative transformations of citations. It is shown that ICQ is a useful additional measure to 2YIF and other well known RAMs for the purpose of evaluating the impact and quality, as well as ranking, of journals as it contains information that has very low correlations with the information contained in the well known RAMs for both the Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as in Finance and Accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer, "undated". "Quality Weighted Citations Versus Total Citations in the Sciences and Social Sciences, with an Application to Finance and Accounting," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2015-01, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico, revised Jan 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucm:doicae:1501
    Note: The authors are most grateful to the Guest Editor, Kam C. (Johnny) Chan, and a referee for very helpful comments and suggestions, and to Essie Maasoumi and Peter Phillips for illuminating discussions. For financial support, the first author wishes to thank the National Science Council, Taiwan, and the second author acknowledges the Australian Research Council and the National Science Council, Taiwan.
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer & Les Oxley, 2011. "What makes a great journal great in the sciences? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(1), pages 17-40, April.
    2. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael Mcaleer, 2014. "Just How Good Are The Top Three Journals In Finance? An Assessment Based On Quantity And Quality Citations," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(01), pages 1-31.
    3. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer, 2013. "Ranking journal quality by harmonic mean of ranks: an application to ISI statistics & probability," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 67(1), pages 27-53, February.
    4. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael Mcaleer, 2013. "What Do Experts Know About Forecasting Journal Quality? A Comparison With Isi Research Impact In Finance," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(01), pages 1-30.
    5. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer & Les Oxley, 2011. "Great Expectatrics: Great Papers, Great Journals, Great Econometrics," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 583-619.
    6. Chia-Lin Chang & Esfandiar Maasoumi & Michael McAleer, 2016. "Robust Ranking of Journal Quality: An Application to Economics," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 50-97, January.
    7. Chang Chia-Lin & McAleer Michael, 2014. "Ranking Economics and Econometrics ISI Journals by Quality Weighted Citations," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 35-52, April.
    8. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Oxley, Les, 2013. "Coercive journal self citations, impact factor, Journal Influence and Article Influence," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 190-197.
    9. Michael McAleer & Chia-Lin Chang, 2011. "Citations and Impact of ISI Tourism and Hospitality Journals," KIER Working Papers 781, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    10. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer & Les Oxley, 2011. "How are journal impact, prestige and article influence related? An application to neuroscience," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(11), pages 2563-2573, January.
    11. Kam C. Chan & Chih†Hsiang Chang & Carl R. Chen, 2011. "Financial Research in the European Region: a Long†Term Assessment (1990–2008)," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(2), pages 391-411, March.
    12. Chang, C-L. & McAleer, M.J., 2014. "Quality Weighted Citations Versus Total Citations in the Sciences and Social Sciences," Econometric Institute Research Papers 50641, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    13. Kam C. Chan & Chih‐Hsiang Chang & Jamie Y. Tong & Feida Zhang, 2012. "An analysis of the accounting and finance research productivity in Australia and New Zealand in 1991–2010," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(1), pages 249-265, March.
    14. Kam Chan & Jamie Tong & Frank Zhang, 2013. "Accounting research in the Asia–Pacific region: an update," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 675-694, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chia-Lin Chang & Michael McAleer, 2015. "Bibliometric Rankings of Journals Based on the Thomson Reuters Citations Database," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 4, pages 120-125.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Research assessment measures; Impact factors; Eigenfactor; Article Influence; Quality weighted citations; Total citations; Index of citations quality; Journal rankings; Self citations; Coercive citations; Exchanged citations.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • Y10 - Miscellaneous Categories - - Data: Tables and Charts - - - Data: Tables and Charts

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