Citation is an integral part of academic research. Mentioning the works of other authors contributes to the enrichment and development of the subject area. Bibliographic references are necessary because they allow interested readers to be convinced of the originality of the work and the absence of plagiarism in the text. This is a kind of indicator of academic honesty. Mentioning one's own previous publications is called self-citation. The impact of self-citation on a scholar's academic reputation is a topic of intense debate because it is the type of citation that is most easily manipulated.
What is self-citation?
Self-citation is the citation of an author's own previously published work in new publications. Self-citation can be a natural and useful part of the scientific process, especially if the author's previous research is directly relevant to the current study and is important for understanding the context or justifying conclusions.
The scientific community encourages the use of citations in the context of relevance to new research, not for the sake of increasing citation rates. Journal editors can check self-citation rates and take action in cases of misuse.
Examples of self-citation abuse:
- A scientist intentionally adds references to his or her previous work in order to artificially increase citation rates
- colleagues ask to include references to their papers that are not relevant to the topic of research
- the editor or reviewer asks to cite scientific papers published earlier in the journal in order to increase the impact factor of the publication.
Thus, self-citation is an important tool in scientific practice, if it is used reasonably and in moderation, but if used excessively, it can damage the scientific reputation of the author.
Consequences of misuse of self-citation:
- Reduction of a scholar's reputation: journal editors and special bibliographic database programs can record such cases, which negatively affects a researcher's credibility
- refusal to publish an article: a scientific journal may refuse to post a paper if it finds excessive misuse of self-citation rates
- decreased chances of receiving grants: different funding organizations, such as public and private grantmaking foundations, often consider citation rates when deciding whether to award research funds. If high scientometric scores are found to be due to self-citation, this can lead to denial of funding awards
- Ethical implications: abuse of self-citation can lead to allegations of breach of academic honesty. In extreme cases, this can lead to official investigations and disciplinary action within academic institutions. This can have a negative impact on a scientist's career and professional reputation.
When is self-citation appropriate?
Citing your own work may be justified when new research directly builds on previous work and develops the same ideas. Here are a few situations where self-citation is appropriate:
- Continuation of previous research: a new publication is a continuation of a previous project or is based on data, methods or results described previously
- writing a review article based on previous studies
- Previously published work is important for understanding the accumulated research in the development of the topic of the current manuscript
- Use of method or data from previous work
- Justification of a hypothesis or theoretical framework.
Positive impact of self-citation:
- Self-citation can help a scientist to demonstrate the continuity of his research and contribution to the development of a particular scientific topic and subject area. This can help to increase the visibility of his/her work in the scientific community
- increased citation rates in databases such as Scopus or Web of Science, which is considered an important criterion for evaluating scientific contributions.
- Increased recognition of the scientist: citing your work helps to communicate important results to a wider audience.
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