Does Self-Citation Pay?

Scientometrics, Vol. 72, No. 3, pp. 427-437, September 2007

14 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2007

See all articles by James H. Fowler

James H. Fowler

UC San Diego Division of Social Sciences; University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health

Dag W. Aksnes

Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) - Centre for Innovation Research (NIFU STEP)

Abstract

Self-citations - those where authors cite their own works - account for a significant portion of all citations. These self-references may result from the cumulative nature of individual research, the need for personal gratification, or the value of self-citation as a rhetorical and tactical tool in the struggle for visibility and scientific authority. In this article we examine the incentives that underlie self-citation by studying how authors' references to their own works affect the citations they receive from others. We report the results of a macro study of more than half a million citations to articles by Norwegian scientists that appeared in the Science Citation Index. We show that the more one cites oneself the more one is cited by other scholars. Controlling for numerous sources of variation in cumulative citations from others, our models suggest that each additional self-citation increases the number of citations from others by about one after one year, and by about three after five years. Moreover, there is no significant penalty for the most frequent self-citers - the effect of self-citation remains positive even for very high rates of self-citation. These results carry important policy implications for the use of citations to evaluate performance and distribute resources in science and they represent new information on the role and impact of self-citations in scientific communication.

Suggested Citation

Fowler, James H. and Fowler, James H. and Aksnes, Dag W., Does Self-Citation Pay?. Scientometrics, Vol. 72, No. 3, pp. 427-437, September 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1008027

James H. Fowler (Contact Author)

UC San Diego Division of Social Sciences ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Code 0521
La Jolla, CA 92093-0521
United States

HOME PAGE: http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health ( email )

La Jolla, CA
United States

HOME PAGE: http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu

Dag W. Aksnes

Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) - Centre for Innovation Research (NIFU STEP) ( email )

Hammersborg torg 3
Oslo, N-0179
Norway