Name
Title | ||
|---|---|---|
Self-citations at the meso and individual levels: effects of different calculation methods. |
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
This paper focuses on the study of self-citations at the meso and micro (individual) levels, on the basis of an analysis of the production (1994-2004) of individual researchers working at the Spanish CSIC in the areas of Biology and Biomedicine and Material Sciences. Two different types of self-citations are described: author self-citations (citations received from the author him/herself) and co-author self-citations (citations received from the researchers' co-authors but without his/her participation). Self-citations do not play a decisive role in the high citation scores of documents either at the individual or at the meso level, which are mainly due to external citations. At micro-level, the percentage of self-citations does not change by professional rank or age, but differences in the relative weight of author and co-author self-citations have been found. The percentage of co-author self-citations tends to decrease with age and professional rank while the percentage of author self-citations shows the opposite trend. Suppressing author self-citations from citation counts to prevent overblown self-citation practices may result in a higher reduction of citation numbers of old scientists and, particularly, of those in the highest categories. Author and co-author self-citations provide valuable information on the scientific communication process, but external citations are the most relevant for evaluative purposes. As a final recommendation, studies considering self-citations at the individual level should make clear whether author or total self-citations are used as these can affect researchers differently. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2010 | 10.1007/s11192-010-0187-7 | Scientometrics |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
Self-citations,Micro-level,Meso-level,Individual scientists,Bibliometric indicators,Citation analysis | Data science,Data mining,Computer science,Citation,Citation analysis,Scientific communication,Biomedicine | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
82 | 3 | 0138-9130 |
Citations | PageRank | References |
27 | 1.42 | 26 |
Authors | ||
3 | ||
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rodrigo Costas | 1 | 741 | 43.30 |
| Thed N. Van Leeuwen | 2 | 1158 | 78.52 |
| María Bordons | 3 | 550 | 36.32 |