Lately, I’ve seen a lot of folks post their citation counts & H-index. Some early career, some late career, some who have suddenly extraordinary numbers - going from hundreds to thousands in short order. I am sure many people are growing citations organically - doing things the right way - having their work cited for the right reasons (findings & content). I am not sure that everyone is growing citations ethically. I recently heard an academic legend - I hope - of an early career faculty member - who, having had their paper accepted at a conference - changed the references to cite their own work dozens of times - in the proceedings. By slipping in self-citations to several proceedings, the story goes they had produced a massive bump in H-index … until an anonymous tip went out to the conference organizer … Usually, academic legends have an ounce of truth & a pound of inflation! The legend illustrates a dilemma about self-citation - often not discussed in PhD coursework - when is it ok to self-cite papers? First, self-cite when the reference is relevant to the paper. Organically cite your work as part of the literature review or method. Second, self-cite when you can anonymize who you are. Assuming you are working with double-blind peer review, you need to take every step possible to preserve your anonymity - you don’t want to introduce bias for or against you to the review process. Third, self-cite as ‘extending’ your work only as a last resort. We have all been in this position, but when you (anonymize for the peer review process) & say you events your work - you might as well tell a reviewer who you are. When is self-citation not ok? First, self-citation simply to raise your citation count & H-index is not ok. Every self-citation should be to advance an argument. Second, self-citation should not be used to signal to reviewers who you are. Even if you are super popular and well-published, many reviewers will respond negatively to such cues. Whether stated directly or indirectly, an ethical reviewer will be tougher on you & more suspicious of your work. Third, self-citation can create peril for your paper. Smart reviewers will catch the inappropriate use of citations & undermine their confidence in your ability to complete a revision. More than that, it creates suspicion about your ethics as a researcher - calling into question your study’s quality. I’m sure there are more issues that I missed. Clearly, I don’t oppose self-citation - I think it should be judicious and used sparingly - to avoid the appearance of, or actual, ethical breaches. Take care, to not become a legend of self-citation - it’s no way to win in the long-game of academic life. P.S. if you find the topic interesting, here is a relevant read: https://lnkd.in/e5D3Xr8S #career #academiclife #mentoring #phd
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