How Much Citation Manipulation Is Acceptable?
Is citation manipulation a moral problem or an accounting problem?
Online Access and Citations — A Spurious Relationship, Economists Say
A study by two respected economists suggests it may be time to admit that we made a mistake attributing a citation advantage to open access articles.
Tipping the Scales: Is Impact Factor Suppression Biased Against Small Fields?
The suppression of three economic history journals reveals more about Clarivate’s methods than citation manipulation.
Reverse Engineering JCR’s Self-Citation and Citation Stacking Thresholds
Now we know how suppression decisions are made, should metrics companies suppress titles at all or simply make the underlying data more transparent?
Skeletons In Their Closet: Clarivate Issues Editorial Concern But Takes No Further Action
A public allegation of citation manipulation among 5 journals deserves a public inquiry.
Citation Cartel Or Editor Gone Rogue?
How much can a single editor distort the citation record? Investigation documents rogue editor’s coercion of authors to cite his journal, papers.
Gaming Google Scholar Citations, Made Simple and Easy
A new paper demonstrates how easy it is to game Google Scholar citations, and how the system resists correction.
When Journal Editors Coerce Authors to Self-Cite
Editors of business journals strategically coerce authors to increase citation rates, a new study in Science reports.
Does Journal Suppression Reduce Self-Citation?
Journal suppression is an effective tool for reducing high rates of self-citation, even years after a title is reintroduced.
Optical Illusions — Shifting to Citation Distributions Only Makes It Easier to Fool the Eye
A proposal to substitute graphs of citation distributions for impact factors introduces many problems the authors don’t seem to have fully grasped, including unintentionally bolstering the importance of the very metric they seek to diminish.
Should Editors Influence Journal Impact Factors?
Is it ethical for editors to alert authors of relevant in-journal articles?
The Black Market for Facebook "Likes," and What It Means for Citations and Alt-Metrics
Purchasing artificial trust and reputation on the Internet has never been easier or cheaper. What does this mean for metrics-based evaluations?
Mountains Out of Molehills, and the Search for a Retraction Index
A retraction study hits some familiar conceptual problems, and a proposed retraction index runs into a deeper issue.
Impact Crater — Does DORA Need to Attack the Impact Factor to Reform How It Is Used in Academia?
A new declaration to improve research assessment practices shoots wide of the mark and reveals some misunderstandings on behalf of many of those involved.
Guest Post — The 10,000-watt Bulb: How Preprints Shine a Light on Misconduct
Michele Avissar-Whiting of Research Square discusses the value of preprints for uncovering unethical and fraudulent research behaviors early in the publication process.