Journals are rated on their “impact factor.” A high-impact journal is defined as one that’s quoted by many other researchers in their own later studies. That’s called citing the journal.
The higher the impact factor, the more the journal’s prestige grows.
Now two business professors say journal editors are “coercing” those who wants to publish in them, especially younger professors. For instance, your psychology journal tells Professor Smith: We’ll publish your new study, but only if you add a lot of pointless citations from our journal, in order to inflate our impact rating and help us sell advertising.
“Gentler language may be used, but the message is clear: Add citations or risk rejection,” says the study by the College of Business Administration at the University of Alabama.
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I’m pickin’ up good citations
She’s giving me excitations
I’m pickin’ up good citations
(Oom bop, bop, good citations)
She’s giving me excitations
(Oom bop, bop, excitations)
Good good good good citations
(Oom bop, bop)
She’s giving me excitations
(Oom bop, bop, excitations)
Good good good good citations
(Oom bop, bop)
She’s giving me excitations
(Oom bop, bop, excitations)
February 4th, 2012 at 12:20PM
Oh, Snap!
Thanks for the heads up here, UD.
I’ve not experienced this type of pressure from a journal/editor, but I have had specific reviewers push for inclusion of citations from their own personal work.
Since review is supposed to be blind – we don’t know who the reviewers are – I cannot with certainty make the claim above. OTOH, educated guesswork (based on the specific content of reviewers’ comments and professional rivalries between the PIs) allows one to draw reasonable conclusions as to who said what.
Science magazine itself is citation stingy; it is still printed on paper. One guy in my lab was told by the editor at Science to cut out some citations due to space limitations. Ultimately one professor, whose work was not cited in that paper, took offense!
February 5th, 2012 at 5:55AM
Indeed, the current emphasis on citations, h-index etc. pushes referees and editors to request citations to their work or to their friends’ work, even if their relevance is marginal. I’ve also heard (without any precise facts) that certain journals push for citations to articles from the same journal or publisher.