Self-citation rate and impact factor in pediatrics

A journal’s impact factor (IF) may be boosted by increasing self-citations. We aimed to determine the self-citation rate (SCR) of pediatric journals registered in the Journal Citations Report (JCR), to evaluate the impact of SCR upon the IF and to determine the effect of the SCR of a journal on its IF. We found 117 journals categorized as pediatric journals by the JCR (as of 2013). The median and range of SCR, IF and corrected IF (IF without self-citations) were 9 % (0–30 %), 1.54 (0–6.35) and 1.37 (0–5.87) respectively. No differences were found between general and subspecialty journals in terms of SCR, IF or corrected IF. Spearman’s ranked correlation showed that IF was significantly and inversely correlated with SCR (r = −0.28, P = 0.002; R2 = 0.08). There was a significant difference between IF and corrected IF among all journals (1.74 ± 1.04 vs 1.59 ± 0.98, P < 0.001). Self-citation is relatively rare in pediatric journals. Importantly and unlike other fields of medicine, self-citation was found to be more prevalent in journals with a lower IF and also with lower corrected IF.

[1]  Chun-Ting Zhang,et al.  A proposal for a novel impact factor as an alternative to the JCR impact factor , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[2]  S. Hakkalamani,et al.  The impact factor of seven orthopaedic journals: factors influencing it. , 2006, The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume.

[3]  A. Paraskeva,et al.  Self-citations in six anaesthesia journals and their significance in determining the impact factor. , 2000, British journal of anaesthesia.

[4]  S. Ramin,et al.  Comparison between Impact factor, SCImago journal rank indicator and Eigenfactor score of nuclear medicine journals. , 2012, Nuclear medicine review. Central & Eastern Europe.

[5]  E. Garfield Citation analysis as a tool in journal evaluation. , 1972, Science.

[6]  E. Garfield The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. , 2006, JAMA.

[7]  J. Fenton,et al.  Alternatives to the impact factor. , 2014, The surgeon : journal of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland.

[8]  M. Mimouni,et al.  Self-Citation Rate and Impact Factor in Ophthalmology , 2014, Ophthalmic Research.

[9]  C. Bradshaw,et al.  How to Rank Journals , 2016, PloS one.

[10]  M. Motamed,et al.  Self citations and impact factors in otolaryngology journals. , 2002, Clinical otolaryngology and allied sciences.

[11]  Isaac CH Fung,et al.  Citation of non-English peer review publications – some Chinese examples , 2008, Emerging themes in epidemiology.

[12]  Azam Raoofi,et al.  The More Publication, the Higher Impact Factor: Citation Analysis of Top Nine Gastroenterology and Hepatology Journals , 2012, Hepatitis monthly.

[13]  G. Jemec Impact factors of dermatological journals for 1991 – 2000 , 2001, BMC dermatology.

[14]  N. Skokauskas,et al.  Impact factor of medical education journals and recently developed indices: Can any of them support academic promotion criteria? , 2016, Journal of postgraduate medicine.

[15]  S. Hansson,et al.  Impact factor as a misleading tool in evaluation of medical journals , 1995, The Lancet.

[16]  Matthew E. Falagas,et al.  The top-ten in journal impact factor manipulation , 2008, Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis.

[17]  A. Casadevall,et al.  Causes for the Persistence of Impact Factor Mania , 2014, mBio.

[18]  P. Seglen,et al.  Education and debate , 1999, The Ethics of Public Health.