Author self‐citation pattern in science

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the author self‐citation behavior in four disciplines: electronic engineering, general and internal medicine, organic chemistry and plant sciences.

Design/methodology/approach

By using SCI and random stratified method 1,000 articles were analysed as a sample in the four disciplines during 2004‐2006.

Findings

It was found that about 60 per cent of the articles in the four disciplines' literature contained at least one self‐citation. Four disciplines all showed skewed distributions of articles citation rates, either self‐citation or other citations. Organic chemistry articles had the highest self‐citations than the other disciplines. Share of self‐citation decreases with growing time window. The expected self‐citation rate increased with growing number of citation, co‐authorship and author productivity.

Originality/value

The outcomes of this study suggest that self‐citation indicators should be used as supplementary indicators in evaluative bibliometrics.

Citation

Reza Davarpanah, M. and Amel, F. (2009), "Author self‐citation pattern in science", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 4, pp. 301-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910952846