Use of the <i>Journal Citation Reports</i> for Serials Management in Research Libraries: An Investigation of the Effect of Self-Citation on Journal Rankings in Library and Information Science and Genetics

Abstract

This article explores the use of the Institute for Scientific Information’s Journal Citation Reports (JCR) for journal management in academic libraries. The advantages and disadvantages to using JCR citation data for journal management are outlined, and a literature review summarizes reported uses of these data by libraries and scholars. This study researches the impact of journal self-citation on JCR rankings of library and information science (LIS) and genetics journals. The 1994 rankings by impact factor and total citations received were recalculated with journal self-citations removed; then the recalculated rankings were compared to the original rankings to analyze the effect of self-citations. It is concluded that librarians can use JCR data without correcting for journal self-citation, although self-citations do exert a major effect on the rankings for a small number of journals.

Quality in Conference Publishing

“…But the efficacy of the citation count is the subject of a great deal of debate [3]. One issue is how easily this metric can be artificially inflated.…”

“…This effect is a direct consequence of the linear model used, where it is easily demonstrated that the combined multiplier effect over the years leads to exponential behavior. In fact, given , the number of years that have passed since the initial issue of the conference, combined applications of (1) lead to and so on, for example and therefore (3) Besides the previous mathematical passages, the interpretation of the results provided by (3) are very important: The submissions at year are the additive result of two terms: (1) a constant term expressing a contribution that is not affected by the previous years' acceptance rates; and (2) a variable term incorporating the cumulative effects over the years of an assessed acceptance rate with respect to the reference rate . This variable term basically shows that the assessment of an acceptance rate over the years has a multiplicative impact, thus leading to exponential behavior over the years (i.e., to the power outside the bracket).…”

Institutional self-citation rates: A three year study of universities in the United States

“…Nisonger compared ISI journal impact factors and the ranks of journals with and without journal self-citations, and found that journal self-citations did not affect the rankings of the vast majority of journals studied. Thus, he concluded that the utility of journal impact factors as a collection development tool was not compromised by journal self-citations [NISONGER, 2000]. Due to correlative relationships between journal selfcitations and journal impact factor, the potential manipulation of journal impact factors by journal self-citations has been noted by several scholars [ANSEEL & DEMARIA, 2003;FASSOULAKI & AL., 2000;MOTAMED & AL., 2002].…”

Establishing a Core List of Journals for Forestry: A Citation Analysis from Faculty at Southern Universities

“…15 Notwithstanding JCR limitations, "impact factor is the most frequently used citation measure for journal collection management" and is included on the core lists appearing in this study along with the JCR list of forestry journals. 16 …”

“…First, the JCR "data do not necessarily reflect a journal's importance to its own discipline because it includes citations from journals in other disciplines." 14 Second, the database does not include all refereed journals important to a discipline and does not count citations from journals not indexed in the ISI database. Third, interdisciplinary journals important to a particular discipline may not be assigned to the discipline's subject category.…”