How much is too much? The difference between research influence and self-citation excess
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21441707 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin Szomszor (0000-0003-0347-3527), David Pendlebury (0000-0001-5074-1593), Jonathan Adams (0000-0003-3890-4630, King's College - North Carolina, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1119-1147 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scientometrics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0138-9130 • E-ISSN: 1588-2861 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11192-020-03417-5 |
| OpenAlex | W3015626609 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 118 |
Citations can be an indicator of publication significance, utility, attention, visibility or short-term impact but analysts need to confirm whether a high citation count for an individual is a genuine reflection of influence or a consequence of extraordinary, even excessive, self-citation. It has recently been suggested there may be increasing misrepresentation of research performance by individuals who self-cite inordinately to achieve scores and win rewards. In this paper we consider self-referencing and self-citing, describe the typical shape of self-citation patterns for carefully curated publication sets authored by 3517 Highly Cited Researchers and quantify the variance in the distribution of self-citation rates within and between all 21 Essential Science Indicators’ fields. We describe both a generic level of median self-referencing rates, common to most fields, and a graphical, distribution-driven assessment of excessive self-citation that demarcates a threshold not dependent on statistical tests or percentiles (since for some fields all values are within a central ‘normal’ range). We describe this graphical procedure for identifying exceptional self-citation rates but emphasize the necessity for expert interpretation of the citation profiles of specific individuals, particularly in fields with atypical self-citation patterns
Bibliometrics · Citation · Citation analysis · Cognitive psychology · Data mining · Data science · Economics · Impact factor · Information retrieval · Informetrics · Library science · Misrepresentation · Percentile · Political science · Statistics · Variance (accounting) · Academic Writing and Publishing · Computer Science · Mathematics · Meta-analysis and systematic reviews · Psychology · scientometrics and bibliometrics research
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| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3.67 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |