The disastrous boomerang effects of “citation mania”

Abstract

The recent publication of a commentary article by Dadkhah et al. (J Cell Commun Signal 11:181-185, 2017) which addressed issues raised by the citation of questionable scientific papers in current databases and the recent retraction of manuscripts dealing with the biological properties of the CCN1 protein by Lin et al. (J Biol Chem 291(53):27433, 2016) prompted us to examine how this situation reflects an evolution of the original citation system, endangering scientific communication. We argue that the increasing number of publication retractions that have been witnessed over several years is a direct consequence of the bias created by the inconsistency of citation metrics.

The driving forces behind the impressive progression of the journal of cell communication and signaling (JCCS)

“…With the burgeoning of disastrous quality journals (Perbal 2017 and references within) and the proliferation of flawed articles that are continuously cited tarnish the scientific publishing image, while the high number of citations do no longer necessarily match an excellence in quality.…”

Three point six nine one

“…We at JCCS, follow a very strict reviewing protocol prior to manuscript acceptance. Along this line we are faced with the risk of "data manipulation" and "manuscript retraction" (Perbal 2017).…”