2024-03-29T12:28:12Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/257942021-12-28T16:10:34Zcom_10261_67com_10261_7col_10261_320
Self-citations at the meso and individual levels:effects of different calculation methods
Costas Comesaña, Rodrigo
Van Leeuwen, Thed N.
Bordons, María
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)
Self-citations
Micro-level
Meso-level
Individual scientists
Bibliometric indicators
Citation analysis
21 pages, 37 graphs, 5 tables.
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 selfcitations
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.
2010-06-29T16:21:23Z
2010-06-29T16:21:23Z
2010-02-17
artículo
Scientometrics 82:517–537(2010)
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/25794
10.1007/s11192-010-0187-7
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003339
20234766
eng
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0187-7
openAccess
Springer