{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]],"date-time":"2026-02-01T08:29:49Z","timestamp":1769934589496,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]],"date-time":"2018-11-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1543190400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Publications"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Journal self-citations may be increased artificially to inflate a journal\u2019s scientometric indicators. The aim of this study was to identify possible mechanisms of change in a cohort of journals that rose from the fourth (Q4) to the first quartile (Q1) over six years or less in Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and the role of journal self-citations in these changes. A total of 51 different journals sampled from all JCR Science Citation Index (SCI) subject categories improved their rank position from Q4 in 2009 to Q1 in any year from 2010 to 2015. I identified changes in the numerator or denominator of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) that were involved in each year-to-year transition. The main mechanism of change was the increase in the number of citations used to compute the JIF. The effect of journal self-citations in the increase of the JIF was studied. The main conclusion is that there was no evidence of widespread JIF manipulation through the overuse of journal self-citations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/publications6040047","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,27]],"date-time":"2018-11-27T03:31:33Z","timestamp":1543289493000},"page":"47","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Journals that Rise from the Fourth Quartile to the First Quartile in Six Years or Less: Mechanisms of Change and the Role of Journal Self-Citations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2382-7783","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan Miguel","family":"Campanario","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de F\u00edsica y Matem\u00e1ticas, Universidad de Alcal\u00e1, Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"697","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-017-2334-x","article-title":"Reflections on how to evaluate the professional value of scientific papers and their corresponding citations","volume":"112","author":"Fiala","year":"2017","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1564","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.23840","article-title":"Ensemble analysis of topical journal ranking in bioinformatics","volume":"68","author":"Song","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1869","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-017-2365-3","article-title":"Confidence intervals for journal impact factors","volume":"111","author":"Bornmann","year":"2017","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1423","DOI":"10.18520\/cs\/v114\/i07\/1423-1429","article-title":"Citation characteristics of non-citable documents and contributions to journal impact factor","volume":"114","author":"Liu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Curr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferrer-Sapena, A., D\u00edaz-Novillo, S., and S\u00e1nchez-P\u00e9rez, E.A. (2017). Measuring time-dynamics and time-stability of journal rankings in Mathematics and Physics by means of fractional p-variations. Publications, 5.","DOI":"10.3390\/publications5030021"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"707","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.23408","article-title":"The operationalization of \u201cfields\u201d as WoS subject categories (WCs) in evaluative bibliometrics: The cases of \u201clibrary and information science\u201d and \u201cscience & technology studies\u201d","volume":"67","author":"Leydesdorff","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"348","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.20967","article-title":"A global map of science based on the ISI subject categories","volume":"60","author":"Leydesdorff","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.10153","article-title":"Algorithmic procedure for finding semantically related journals","volume":"53","author":"Pudovkin","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"365","article-title":"A review of the literature on citation impact indicators","volume":"10","author":"Waltman","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Inf."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"624","DOI":"10.1002\/sres.2142","article-title":"Dynamics of journal impact factors","volume":"29","author":"Groesser","year":"2012","journal-title":"Syst. Res. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.5694\/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05188.x","article-title":"The omnipotent science citation index impact factor","volume":"178","author":"Lundberg","year":"2003","journal-title":"Med. J. Aust."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.21.1.1.162","article-title":"The mission of Marketing Science","volume":"21","author":"Shugan","year":"2002","journal-title":"Mark. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"635","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.22997","article-title":"Parallel worlds of citable documents and others: Inflated commissioned opinion articles enhance scientometric indicators","volume":"65","author":"Heneberg","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1016\/S0048-7333(02)00008-2","article-title":"The evolution of research activity in Spain: The impact of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity (CNEAI)","volume":"32","year":"2003","journal-title":"Res. Policy"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1017","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.22615","article-title":"Scientific subject categories of Web of Knowledge ranked according to their multidimensional prestige of influential journals","volume":"63","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1093\/reseval\/rvs011","article-title":"Research assessment and monetary rewards: The overemphasized impact factor in China","volume":"21","author":"Shao","year":"2012","journal-title":"Res. Eval."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"990","article-title":"On the stability of citation-based journal rankings","volume":"9","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Inf."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1093\/reseval\/rvx005","article-title":"Measuring field-normalized impact of papers on specific societal groups: An altmetrics study based on Mendeley Data","volume":"26","author":"Bornmann","year":"2017","journal-title":"Res. Eval."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Heneberg, P. (2016). From excessive journal self-cites to citation stacking: Analysis of journal self-citation kinetics in search for journals, which boost their scientometric indicators. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0153730"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"491","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-009-9118-5","article-title":"A study on journal self-citations and intra-citing within the subject category of multidisciplinary sciences","volume":"15","author":"Foo","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sci. Eng. Ethics"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1007\/s00005-008-0024-5","article-title":"The top-ten in journal impact factor manipulation","volume":"56","author":"Falagas","year":"2008","journal-title":"Arch. Immunol. Ther. Exp."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.1213\/ANE.0b013e31821d72e5","article-title":"Artifactual increase in journal self-citation","volume":"113","author":"Tighe","year":"2011","journal-title":"Anesth. Analg."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"133","article-title":"Impact factor manipulation","volume":"16","author":"Epstein","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Eur. Med. Writ. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-007-1779-8","article-title":"The self-cited rate of scientific journals and the manipulation of their impact factors","volume":"73","author":"Yu","year":"2007","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"417","DOI":"10.1164\/ajrccm.171.4.950","article-title":"Impact factor, impact, and smoke and mirrors","volume":"171","author":"Mannino","year":"2005","journal-title":"Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1097\/00042737-200203000-00001","article-title":"Impact factors: Uses and abuses","volume":"14","author":"Neuberger","year":"2002","journal-title":"Eur. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"47","article-title":"Journal self-citations-Analysing the JIF mechanism","volume":"1","author":"Frandsen","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Inf."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02458493","article-title":"Temporal differences in self-citation rates of scientific journals","volume":"44","author":"Rousseau","year":"1999","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1016018013096","article-title":"The sources used by bibliometrics-scientometrics as reflected in references","volume":"54","author":"Peritz","year":"2002","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"1234","article-title":"Correlation between self-citation and impact factor in Iranian English medical journals in WoS and ISC: A Comparative Approach","volume":"44","author":"Mirsaeid","year":"2015","journal-title":"Iran. J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e49001","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0049001","article-title":"Comparison of journal self-citation rates between some Chinese and non-Chinese international journals","volume":"7","author":"Yang","year":"2012","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Humphrey, C., Kiseleva, O., and Schleicher, T. (2018). A time-series analysis of the scale of coercive journal self-citation and its effect on impact factors and journal rankings. Eur. Account. Rev.","DOI":"10.1080\/09638180.2018.1470019"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1002\/leap.1100","article-title":"The performance of Asian S&T journals in international citation indicators","volume":"30","author":"Lin","year":"2017","journal-title":"Learn. Publ."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1087\/20130109","article-title":"Self-citation rates of scientific and technical journals in SCI from China, Japan, India, and Korea","volume":"26","author":"Hongling","year":"2013","journal-title":"Learn. Publ."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"639","DOI":"10.1108\/14684521211275957","article-title":"The influence of journal self-citations on journal impact factor and immediacy index","volume":"36","author":"Huang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Online Inf. Rev."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1455","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-016-2025-z","article-title":"Self-citation rate and impact factor in pediatrics","volume":"108","author":"Mimouni","year":"2016","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_37","first-page":"2206","article-title":"The relation between self-citation and impact factor in medical science open access journals in ISI & DOAJ Databases","volume":"9","author":"Torabian","year":"2012","journal-title":"Life Sci. J."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1007\/s12471-013-0384-0","article-title":"Inflation of impact factors by journal self-citation in cardiovascular science","volume":"21","author":"Opthof","year":"2013","journal-title":"Neth. Heart J."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-009-9177-7","article-title":"Impact of excessive journal self-citations: A case study on the Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica journal","volume":"17","author":"Foo","year":"2011","journal-title":"Sci. Eng. Ethics"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"252","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.20424","article-title":"Structure of the impact factor of journals included in the social sciences citation index: Citations from documents labeled \u201ceditorial material\u201d","volume":"58","author":"Campanario","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-008-2085-9","article-title":"Journals that increase their impact factor at least fourfold in a few years: The role of journal self-citations","volume":"80","author":"Andrade","year":"2009","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.21457","article-title":"Large increases and decreases in journal impact factors in only one year: The effect of journal self-citations","volume":"62","author":"Campanario","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1989","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-016-2144-6","article-title":"Detecting impact factor manipulation with data mining techniques","volume":"109","author":"Yang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"542","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1212540","article-title":"Coercive citation in academic publishing","volume":"335","author":"Wilhite","year":"2012","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-008-9059-4","article-title":"Perceptions of ethical problems with scientific journal peer review: An exploratory study","volume":"14","author":"Resnik","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sci. Eng. Ethics"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Herteliu, C., Ausloos, M., Ileanu, B.V., Rotundo, G., and Andrei, T. (2017). Quantitative and qualitative analysis of editor behavior through potentially coercive citations. Publications, 5.","DOI":"10.20944\/preprints201705.0026.v1"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1581","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-014-9598-9","article-title":"Mandatory and self-citation; types, reasons, their benefits and disadvantages","volume":"21","author":"Esfe","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Eng. Ethics"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2015.09.001","article-title":"Editors\u2019 JIF-boosting stratagems\u2013Which are appropriate and which not?","volume":"45","author":"Martin","year":"2016","journal-title":"Res. Policy"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-014-9540-1","article-title":"Is it ethical for journals to request self-citation?","volume":"21","author":"Mahian","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Eng. Ethics"},{"key":"ref_50","first-page":"123","article-title":"Classification method for detecting coercive self-citation in journals","volume":"8","author":"Yu","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Inf."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chorus, C., and Waltman, L. (2016). A large-scale analysis of impact factor biased journal self-citations. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0161021"},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kiesslich, T., Weineck, S.B., and Koelblinger, D. (2016). Reasons for journal impact factor changes: Influence of changing source items. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0154199"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1016\/S0008-6363(02)00500-X","article-title":"Submissions, impact factor, reviewer\u2019s recommendations and geographical bias within the peer review system (1997\u20132002)","volume":"55","author":"Opthof","year":"2002","journal-title":"Cardiovasc. Res."},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"(2018, October 15). Institute for Scientific Information (no date) Journal Self-citation in the Journal Citation Reports\u2014Science Edition. Available online: http:\/\/wokinfo.com\/essays\/."},{"key":"ref_55","unstructured":"Davis, P. (2018, October 15). Reverse Engineering JCR\u2019s self-Citation and Citation Stacking Thresholds. Available online: https:\/\/scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org\/2017\/06\/05\/reverse-engineering-jcrs-self-citation-citation-stacking-thresholds\/."},{"key":"ref_56","first-page":"36","article-title":"Losing the numbers game: Abundant self-citations put journals at risk for a life without an impact factor","volume":"40","author":"Krell","year":"2014","journal-title":"Eur. Sci. Ed."},{"key":"ref_57","first-page":"41","article-title":"Journal self-citation V: Coercive journal self-citation-manipulations to increase impact factors may do more harm than good in the long run","volume":"25","author":"Romano","year":"2009","journal-title":"Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-013-1210-6","article-title":"An examination of \u201ccitation circles\u201d for social sciences journals in Eastern European countries","volume":"99","author":"Teodorescu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Scientometrics"}],"container-title":["Publications"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-6775\/6\/4\/47\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T15:32:06Z","timestamp":1760196726000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-6775\/6\/4\/47"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]},"references-count":58,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,12]]}},"alternative-id":["publications6040047"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/publications6040047","relation":{},"ISSN":["2304-6775"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2304-6775","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]}}}