The influence of self citations in the increase of impact factor in Social Sciences journals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2010.2.722Keywords:
Impact factor, self citationsAbstract
In this work we study the effect of journal self citations in the increase of impact factor of journals indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index from 1998 to 2007. Two sets of journals are studied: 63 journals in which the impact factor increased after four successive decreases and 23 journals in which the impact factor increased in at least six successive years during the period studied. The main variable is the percentage of journal self citations that contribute to impact factor. No proof was found of widespread manipulation of the impact factor as a result of the high level of use of self citations in journals.
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