Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 28:17:871.
doi: 10.4081/mrm.2022.871. eCollection 2022 Jan 12.

The influence of policies limiting author self-citations on journals impact factor and self-citation rate in respiratory system

Filippo Sanfilippo  1 , Claudia Crimi  2 , Alberto Morgana  3 , Luigi La Via  1   4 , Marinella Astuto  1   4
Affiliations

The influence of policies limiting author self-citations on journals impact factor and self-citation rate in respiratory system

Filippo Sanfilippo et al. Multidiscip Respir Med. .

Abstract

To assess the presence of journal policies discouraging inappropriate author's self-citation (A-SC) in "Respiratory System" journals, we evaluated submission guidelines of "Respiratory System" journals included in Journal-Citation Reports 2020 (Clarivate Analytics®) for the presence of policies on A-SC and its impact on journals' self-citation (J-SC) rate and impact factor (IF). We found that 14.3% of journals (n=8/56) reported policies on inappropriate A-SC. The median IF was not different in "Respiratory System" journals with (3.6; IQR:2.3) vs without A-SC policies (3.1; IQR:3.0; p=0.41). The J-SC rate was not influenced by the presence of A-SC policies (p=0.83). Fully open-access (n=14) and traditional (n=42) journals had no differences in IF (3.3; IQR:1.5 vs 3.1; IQR:3.4, respectively; p=0.77) and J-SC rate (4.5%; IQR:5.6 vs 6.2%; IQR:8.4, respectively; p=0.38). The majority of "Respiratory System" journals do not have policies discouraging A-SC. The presence of such policies is not associated with changes in IF or J-SC rates.

Keywords: Open access; authors; citations; impact factor; journals; policies; self-citations.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Van Noorden R, Singh Chawla D. Hundreds of extreme selfciting scientists revealed in new database. Nature. 2019; 7771:578-9. - PubMed
    1. Fowler JH, Aksnes DW. Does self-citation pay? Scientometrics 2007;3:427-37.
    1. Fleisher LA, Beckman JA, Brown KA, Calkins H, Chaikof E, Fleischmann KE, et al. ACC/AHA 2006 guideline update on perioperative cardiovascular evaluation for noncardiac surgery: focused update on perioperative beta-blocker therapy: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Update the 2002 Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation for Noncardiac Surgery): developed in collaboration with the American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology. Circulation 2006; 22:2662-74. - PubMed
    1. Sanfilippo F, Tigano S, Morgana A, Murabitol P, Astuto M. Self-citation policies in anaesthesiology journals. Br J Anaesth 2021;1:e21-e25. - PubMed
    1. Sanfilippo F, Tigano S, Morgana A, Murabito P, Astuto M. Self-citation policies and journal self-citation rate among critical care medicine journals. J Intens Care 2021;1:15. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources