IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v111y2017i1d10.1007_s11192-017-2249-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nested self-citation: the citation of a paper’s least divisible unit

Author

Listed:
  • Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva

Abstract

Try to imagine that a figure, a table or an explanatory box in your main manuscript gets cited, in addition to citations to the main paper. Some scientists would no doubt be ecstatic at this unrealistic opportunity of gathering additional citations. This paper highlights a case in which a text box (Unger and Couzin in Science 312(5770):40–41, 2006. doi: 10.1126/science.312.5770.40 ) within a larger paper (Couzin and Unger in Science 312(5770):38–43, 2006. doi: 10.1126/science.312.5770.38 ), as well as the paper itself, are both cited, 33 and 8 times, respectively, according to Clarivate Analytics’ (formerly Thomson Reuters) Web of Science. Both papers were published in AAAS’ Science. This paper explores details of these citations and shows how four papers between 2007 and 2015 have cited both papers, including the text box. The argument is put forward that citation of least divisible units of a paper, in this case, a text box, are unfair citation practices, and since they refer to the citation of a part of the same paper, the term “nested self-citation” has been coined. Given the attention given in recent times to citation manipulation, citation rings and inappropriate citations, the risks of nested self-citations, including the skewing of citation counts, and of not correcting potentially misleading information, need to be explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva, 2017. "Nested self-citation: the citation of a paper’s least divisible unit," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 547-552, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:111:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2249-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-017-2249-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-017-2249-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-017-2249-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:111:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2249-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.