IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v83y2010i1d10.1007_s11192-009-0083-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reliability-based citation impact factor and the manipulation of impact factor

Author

Listed:
  • Guang Yu

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Dong-Hui Yang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Wang Liang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

Abstract

According to the definition of reliability-based citation impact factor (R-impact factor) proposed by KUO & RUPE and the cumulative citation age distribution model, a mathematical expression of the relationship between R-impact factor and impact factor is established in this paper. By simulation of the change processes of the R-impact factor and impact factor in the manipulation process of the impact factor, it is found that the effect of manipulation can be partly corrected by the R-impact factor in some cases. Based on the Journal Citation Report database, impact factors of 4 normal journals and 4 manipulated journals were collected. The journals’ R-impact factors and self-cited rates in the previous two years were calculated for each year during the period 2000 to 2007, and various characteristics influenced by the manipulation were analyzed. We find that the R-impact factor has greater fairness than the impact factor for journals with relatively short cited half-lives. Finally, some issues about using the R-impact factor as a measure for evaluating scientific journals are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Guang Yu & Dong-Hui Yang & Wang Liang, 2010. "Reliability-based citation impact factor and the manipulation of impact factor," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 83(1), pages 259-270, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:83:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-009-0083-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-0083-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-009-0083-1
    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/s11192-009-0083-1?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leo Egghe & Ronald Rousseau, 2000. "The influence of publication delays on the observed aging distribution of scientific literature," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 51(2), pages 158-165.
    2. Guang Yu & Liang Wang, 2007. "The self-cited rate of scientific journals and the manipulation of their impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(3), pages 321-330, December.
    3. Jochen Krauss, 2007. "Journal self-citation rates in ecological sciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(1), pages 79-89, October.
    4. Guang Yu & Xiao-Hong Wang & Da-Ren Yu, 2005. "The influence of publication delays on impact factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 64(2), pages 235-246, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefan N. Groesser, 2012. "Dynamics of Journal Impact Factors," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 624-644, November.
    2. Juan Miguel Campanario & William Cabos, 2014. "The effect of additional citations in the stability of Journal Citation Report categories," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1113-1130, February.
    3. Lei Lei & Yunmei Sun, 2020. "Should highly cited items be excluded in impact factor calculation? The effect of review articles on journal impact factor," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1697-1706, March.
    4. Liu, Xuan Zhen & Fang, Hui, 2020. "A comparison among citation-based journal indicators and their relative changes with time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    5. Juan Miguel Campanario, 2011. "Empirical study of journal impact factors obtained using the classical two-year citation window versus a five-year citation window," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(1), pages 189-204, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dong-Hui Yang & Xin Li & Xiaoxia Sun & Jie Wan, 2016. "Detecting impact factor manipulation with data mining techniques," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1989-2005, December.
    2. Guang Yu & Yi-Jun Li, 2007. "Parameter identification of the observed citation distribution," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 71(2), pages 339-348, May.
    3. Peter Jacso, 2012. "Grim tales about the impact factor and the h-index in the Web of Science and the Journal Citation Reports databases: reflections on Vanclay’s criticism," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 325-354, August.
    4. Bar-Ilan, Judit, 2008. "Informetrics at the beginning of the 21st century—A review," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-52.
    5. Guang Yu & Yi-Jun Li, 2010. "Identification of referencing and citation processes of scientific journals based on the citation distribution model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 249-261, February.
    6. Guijie Zhang & Yuqiang Feng & Guang Yu & Luning Liu & Yanqiqi Hao, 2017. "Analyzing the time delay between scientific research and technology patents based on the citation distribution model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1287-1306, June.
    7. Daniel Teodorescu & Tudorel Andrei, 2014. "An examination of “citation circles” for social sciences journals in Eastern European countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(2), pages 209-231, May.
    8. Mingyang Wang & Jiaqi Zhang & Guangsheng Chen & Kah-Hin Chai, 2019. "Examining the influence of open access on journals’ citation obsolescence by modeling the actual citation process," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(3), pages 1621-1641, June.
    9. Jingda Ding & Dehui Du, 2023. "A study of the correlation between publication delays and measurement indicators of journal articles in the social network environment—based on online data in PLOS," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1711-1743, March.
    10. Jerome K. Vanclay, 2012. "Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 211-238, August.
    11. Chang, Yu-Wei, 2022. "Capability of non-English-speaking countries for securing a foothold in international journal publishing," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    12. Hu, Zhigang & Tian, Wencan & Xu, Shenmeng & Zhang, Chunbo & Wang, Xianwen, 2018. "Four pitfalls in normalizing citation indicators: An investigation of ESI’s selection of highly cited papers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1133-1145.
    13. Tehmina Amjad & Ying Ding & Ali Daud & Jian Xu & Vincent Malic, 2015. "Topic-based heterogeneous rank," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 313-334, July.
    14. Ed J. Rinia & Thed. N. Van Leeuwen & Eppo E.W. Bruins & Hendrik G. Van Vuren & Anthony F.J. Van Raan, 2001. "Citation delay in interdisciplinary knowledge exchange," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 293-309, April.
    15. Lucas Rodriguez Forti & Luiz A. Solino & Judit K. Szabo, 2021. "Trade-off between urgency and reduced editorial capacity affect publication speed in ecological and medical journals during 2020," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Gad Saad, 2010. "Applying the h-index in exploring bibliometric properties of elite marketing scholars," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 83(2), pages 423-433, May.
    17. Castro e Silva, Manuela & Teixeira, Aurora A.C., 2011. "A bibliometric account of the evolution of EE in the last two decades: Is ecological economics (becoming) a post-normal science?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 849-862, March.
    18. Antonia Andrade & Raúl González-Jonte & Juan Miguel Campanario, 2009. "Journals that increase their impact factor at least fourfold in a few years: The role of journal self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 515-528, August.
    19. Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Gendered Prices [Can culture affect prices? A cross-cultural study of shopping and retail prices]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3789-3839.
      • Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2021. "Gendered Prices," Published Paper Series 2021-4, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    20. Guijie Zhang & Guang Yu & Yuqiang Feng & Luning Liu & Zhenhua Yang, 2017. "Improving the publication delay model to characterize the patent granting process," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 621-637, May.

    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:83:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-009-0083-1. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.