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The relationship between co-authorship, currency of references and author self-citations

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  • Wen-Yau Cathy Lin

    (Tamkang University)

  • Mu-Hsuan Huang

    (National Taiwan University)

Abstract

This paper attempts to identify the relationship between co-authorship and the currency of the references and author self-citations in the key journals of environmental engineering. The results show that the self-citation rate of co-authored articles is higher than in single-authored articles. A statistically significant correlation is identified between the numbers of co-authors, the rate of author self-citing and the author self-cited; though it was a low correlation. The value of coefficient correlation between the number of co-authors and the author self-citing rate is slightly higher than that between the number of co-authors and the author self-cited rate, which indicates that the number of co-authors hold a stronger correlation with the self-citing rate than the self-cited rate. Meanwhile, self-citing references are found to be more up-to-date than references to others. The range of publication years of self-citing references is smaller than that of references to others, indicating that researchers tend to preferentially cite their own recent works. There is no significant difference in the latest references between self-citing references and the references to others. It might result from electronic journals that provide an easy access to the most current publications.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen-Yau Cathy Lin & Mu-Hsuan Huang, 2012. "The relationship between co-authorship, currency of references and author self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(2), pages 343-360, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:90:y:2012:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0523-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0523-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Iñaki Ucar & Felipe López-Fernandino & Pablo Rodriguez-Ulibarri & Laura Sesma-Sanchez & Veronica Urrea-Micó & Joaquín Sevilla, 2014. "Growth in the number of references in engineering journal papers during the 1972–2013 period," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1855-1864, March.
    2. Qianjin Zong, 2019. "Response to Dr. Copiello’s comments on “The impact of video abstract on citation counts”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(3), pages 1499-1504, September.
    3. Martin Szomszor & David A. Pendlebury & Jonathan Adams, 2020. "How much is too much? The difference between research influence and self-citation excess," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 1119-1147, May.
    4. Jun-Ping Qiu & Ke Dong & Hou-Qiang Yu, 2014. "Comparative study on structure and correlation among author co-occurrence networks in bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(2), pages 1345-1360, November.
    5. Hongquan Shen & Juan Xie & Jiang Li & Ying Cheng, 2021. "The correlation between scientific collaboration and citation count at the paper level: a meta-analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3443-3470, April.
    6. Sánchez-Gil, Susana & Gorraiz, Juan & Melero-Fuentes, David, 2018. "Reference density trends in the major disciplines," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 42-58.

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