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Self-Citation Does Not Appear to Artificially Inflate Orthopaedic Journal Ranking
Michael P Hawkinson1, Chad A Krueger2, John Carroll3
1Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC), Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Abstract:
Until recently the impact factor has been considered the tool of choice among the many available for evaluating the relative prestige of journals. However, the inclusion of self-citations in its calculation has led some to question its validity. The SCImago Journal Rank is a relatively new rating system that excludes self-citation. This study analyzed the top 30 orthopaedic journals to determine which journals had higher self-citation rates and if those rates had any correlation with their impact factors and SCImago Journal Ranks. The study verified that self-citing was more common in specialty journals compared with general orthopaedic journals (p D .002). The results demonstrate a more positive correlation between self-citation and SCImago Journal Rank than impact factor. This finding suggests that the impact factor's inclusion of self-citations should not be thought to artificially inflate the impact factor of the subspecialty journals that most commonly cite their own work. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 27(2):131-135, 2018).
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