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A request for additional citations is classified as coercive only when the author has initially omitted relevant foundational work.
Answer: False
A request is considered coercive when it mandates citations without justification of relevance or necessity, irrespective of whether foundational work was initially omitted.
The 'Leukemia' journal example illustrates a situation where an editor requested citations based solely on the author's expertise in the field.
Answer: False
The 'Leukemia' journal example demonstrates an editor demanding citations to their own journal, irrespective of the author's expertise or the relevance of the requested citations.
What is the primary unethical practice described as coercive citation in academic publishing?
Answer: Demanding authors include citations from the editor's journal, potentially irrelevant, for publication acceptance.
Coercive citation is characterized by editors or referees pressuring authors to cite articles from the editor's journal, often without clear relevance, as a condition for publication.
How does coercive citation subvert the standard peer review process?
Answer: By using the threat of rejection to force the inclusion of specific, often irrelevant, citations from the journal itself.
Coercive citation corrupts peer review by leveraging the threat of rejection to compel authors to include citations from the journal, thereby undermining the process's integrity.
Which condition suggests a citation request might be coercive?
Answer: The request provides no reason why the manuscript lacks citations and specifically demands citing the editor's journal.
A request is likely coercive if it lacks justification for the citation demand and specifically directs the author to cite articles from the editor's journal.
The example involving the journal 'Leukemia' illustrates which aspect of coercive citation?
Answer: A direct demand from an editor to increase citations to their journal, regardless of relevance.
The 'Leukemia' journal case exemplifies coercive citation through an explicit demand from the editor for increased citations to their journal, highlighting the practice's direct and often irrelevant nature.
The 'Leukemia' journal example is significant because it shows:
Answer: A clear instance of an editor demanding citations to their journal as a condition for publication.
The 'Leukemia' journal case serves as a concrete example of coercive citation, demonstrating an editor explicitly conditioning publication on the inclusion of citations to their journal.
Coercive citation is considered an ethically accepted practice within academic publishing, employed to enhance manuscript quality during the peer review process.
Answer: False
Coercive citation is widely regarded as an unethical practice in academic publishing, fundamentally subverting the principles of peer review rather than ensuring manuscript quality.
The primary objective underpinning coercive citation is the enhancement of scientific rigor in published research.
Answer: False
The principal motivation behind coercive citation is the artificial inflation of a journal's impact factor, not the enhancement of scientific rigor.
A survey conducted in 2012 indicated that more than half of the surveyed academics had encountered coercive citation practices.
Answer: False
The 2012 survey revealed that approximately 20% of respondents had experienced coercive citation, not over half.
According to a 2012 study, coercive citation was found to be most prevalent in psychology and sociology disciplines.
Answer: False
The 2012 study indicated that coercive citation was most prevalent in business disciplines, followed by economics, and was less prevalent in psychology and sociology.
Coercive citation, if detected, poses minimal risk to a journal's reputation, primarily affecting only the impact factor metric.
Answer: False
Discovery of coercive citation practices can significantly damage a journal's reputation and lead to exclusion from citation reports, posing substantial risks beyond just the impact factor.
Journals published by university presses are more frequently associated with coercive citation tactics than those from commercial publishers.
Answer: False
Research indicates that commercial, for-profit publishers are more frequently implicated in coercive citation practices compared to university presses.
Elsevier was identified as a publisher whose journals were implicated in coercive citation practices.
Answer: True
A study identified Elsevier as a commercial publisher with multiple journals exhibiting coercive citation practices.
Lower-ranked academic journals are more likely to engage in coercive citation to improve their standing.
Answer: False
Studies suggest that higher-ranked journals are paradoxically more likely to engage in coercive citation, potentially to maintain their prestige.
Coercive citation requests primarily target senior researchers with extensive publication records.
Answer: False
Coercive citation predominantly targets younger researchers with less established careers and papers with fewer authors, who may be perceived as more vulnerable to such demands.
Authors from English-speaking countries are more frequently subjected to coercive citation requests than authors from other linguistic backgrounds.
Answer: False
Research indicates that authors from non-English speaking countries are more likely to be targeted for coercive citation requests.
Coercive citation primarily targets papers with a large number of authors to ensure broader compliance.
Answer: False
Coercive citation typically targets authors of papers with fewer authors, often early-career researchers, who may be more susceptible to editorial pressure.
According to the source material, what is the main motivation behind engaging in coercive citation?
Answer: To artificially inflate a journal's impact factor and enhance its prestige.
The primary objective of coercive citation is to artificially increase a journal's impact factor, thereby enhancing its perceived prestige and standing within the academic community.
What did a 2012 survey reveal about the prevalence of coercive citation incidents?
Answer: Approximately 20% of respondents reported experiencing such incidents.
The 2012 survey indicated that approximately 20% of surveyed academics had experienced incidents of coercive citation.
In which academic disciplines was coercive citation found to be most prevalent according to the 2012 study?
Answer: Business Disciplines (e.g., marketing, management)
The 2012 study identified business disciplines, such as marketing and management, as having the highest prevalence of coercive citation among the surveyed fields.
What is a significant risk for journals found to be engaging in coercive citation?
Answer: Damage to their reputation and potential exclusion from citation reports.
Journals engaging in coercive citation face severe reputational damage and potential exclusion from key citation databases, undermining their credibility.
Which type of publisher is research indicating is more likely to employ coercive citation tactics?
Answer: Commercial, for-profit publishers
Research suggests that commercial, for-profit publishers are more frequently associated with the implementation of coercive citation tactics compared to other types of academic publishers.
Which major commercial publisher was identified as having multiple top-offending journals in a study on coercive citation?
Answer: Elsevier
Elsevier was identified in a study as the publisher of five of the top ten journals implicated in coercive citation practices.
What surprising correlation has been observed regarding journal rankings and coercive citation?
Answer: Highly ranked journals are more likely to engage in coercive citation.
Studies indicate a correlation where highly ranked journals exhibit a greater propensity for engaging in coercive citation practices, possibly to maintain their status.
Who are the primary targets identified for coercive citation requests?
Answer: Younger researchers with less senior ranks and papers with fewer authors.
Coercive citation requests predominantly target junior researchers and papers with fewer authors, presumed to be more vulnerable to such pressures.
According to the study, authors from which linguistic background are more likely to be targeted for coercive citation?
Answer: Authors from non-English speaking countries.
The study found that authors from non-English speaking countries were disproportionately targeted for coercive citation requests.
The impact factor (IF) is a metric designed to quantify the average number of citations received by a journal's articles within a specific time frame.
Answer: True
The impact factor (IF) measures the average frequency with which articles in a journal have been cited in a particular period, serving as a key bibliometric indicator.
Journals such as Nature and Science exhibit low impact factors, signifying limited influence within their respective fields.
Answer: False
Prestigious journals like Nature and Science possess high impact factors, reflecting their significant influence and citation rates within the academic community.
A significant criticism of impact factors is their susceptibility to manipulation by editors aiming to artificially enhance journal prestige.
Answer: True
The potential for editors to manipulate citation counts, thereby inflating a journal's impact factor, is a primary concern raised by critics of this metric.
What does the Impact Factor (IF) of a journal measure?
Answer: The average number of times articles in the journal are cited within a specific period.
The Impact Factor (IF) quantifies the average citation frequency for articles published in a journal over a defined period, serving as a measure of its citation impact.
Which of the following is a major criticism leveled against journal impact factors?
Answer: They can be artificially inflated by editors through manipulative practices.
A significant criticism is that journal impact factors are vulnerable to manipulation, such as through coercive citation, which artificially inflates the metric.
The removal of self-citations from a journal's records can drastically lower its impact factor, as evidenced in one documented case.
Answer: True
A specific instance demonstrated that eliminating self-citations caused a journal's impact factor to decrease substantially, highlighting the potential influence of self-citation on this metric.
All forms of self-citation are universally considered unethical and coercive within academic publishing.
Answer: False
Self-citation is not inherently unethical; it is acceptable when building upon previous work or citing foundational literature, provided it is relevant and not mandated.
Georg Franck's concept of a 'shadow market' in scientific communication predicted the manipulation of citation counts.
Answer: True
Franck's theoretical framework of a 'shadow market' foresaw the potential for manipulation within scientific communication, including the inflation of citation metrics.
Goodhart's Law suggests that when a metric like the impact factor becomes a target, it remains a reliable measure of quality.
Answer: False
Goodhart's Law posits that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Applied to impact factors, this means they become less reliable indicators of quality when pursued as a primary goal.
Bibliometrics is a field focused solely on the ethical considerations of academic publishing.
Answer: False
Bibliometrics is primarily concerned with the statistical analysis and quantitative measurement of scholarly publications and citations, encompassing but not limited to ethical considerations.
A citation cartel involves editors forcing authors to cite specific journals to boost impact factors.
Answer: False
A citation cartel is a group of authors who mutually cite each other's work, distinct from coercive citation where editors or referees pressure authors.
Altmetrics are alternative metrics that measure research impact solely through traditional academic citations.
Answer: False
Altmetrics measure research impact through various channels beyond traditional citations, including social media engagement, downloads, and news mentions.
The h-index measures the total number of citations a researcher has received across all their publications.
Answer: False
The h-index measures both the productivity and citation impact of a scholar by considering the number of publications and the citations they have received, specifically 'h' publications with at least 'h' citations.
How can self-citation impact a journal's impact factor?
Answer: Excessive self-citation can artificially inflate the impact factor, as demonstrated by a case where its removal drastically lowered the IF.
Self-citation, particularly when excessive, can artificially inflate a journal's impact factor, as evidenced by cases where its removal led to a significant decrease in the metric.
Is all self-citation considered improper in academic publishing?
Answer: No, self-citation is acceptable when building upon previous work or citing foundational papers, provided it is relevant and not mandated.
Self-citation is permissible when it genuinely contributes to the scholarly discourse by referencing prior work or foundational literature, provided it is relevant and not coerced.
Georg Franck's concept of a 'shadow market' in scientific communication related to:
Answer: The potential for editors to inflate citation counts through mandated references.
Franck's 'shadow market' concept anticipated the possibility of editors manipulating citation counts by requiring authors to include specific, potentially irrelevant, references.
How does Goodhart's Law apply to the issue of journal impact factors and coercive citation?
Answer: It suggests that the impact factor becomes a less reliable measure of quality once it is targeted for manipulation.
Goodhart's Law implies that when the impact factor becomes a primary target for journals, its validity as a measure of quality diminishes due to potential manipulation, such as through coercive citation.
What is bibliometrics primarily concerned with?
Answer: The statistical analysis and measurement of scholarly publications and citations.
Bibliometrics is the quantitative study of scholarly literature, focusing on the statistical analysis of publications, citations, and related metrics.
What distinguishes a citation cartel from coercive citation?
Answer: Citation cartels are groups of authors citing each other, whereas coercive citation involves editors/referees pressuring authors.
Citation cartels are author-driven agreements for mutual citation, whereas coercive citation involves editorial or referee pressure on authors to cite specific works.
How do altmetrics differ from traditional citation metrics like the impact factor?
Answer: Altmetrics measure research impact through social media, downloads, and news, beyond traditional citations.
Altmetrics provide a broader measure of research impact by tracking attention across platforms like social media, news outlets, and policy documents, extending beyond traditional citation counts.
Which metric is described as measuring both the productivity and citation impact of a researcher?
Answer: h-index
The h-index is a bibliometric measure designed to assess both the number of publications (productivity) and the citation impact of a scholar.
What does the 'g-index' aim to do differently compared to the h-index?
Answer: It ranks papers by citation count and gives more weight to highly cited works.
The g-index refines the h-index by ranking papers based on citation count and giving greater emphasis to highly cited works, thereby potentially providing a different perspective on impact.
The Leiden Manifesto encourages the exclusive use of journal impact factors for assessing researcher performance.
Answer: False
The Leiden Manifesto advocates for responsible research evaluation and cautions against the over-reliance on simplistic metrics like journal impact factors.
The Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) aims to restrict access to citation data to prevent manipulation.
Answer: False
I4OC promotes the open sharing of structured citation data, facilitating transparency and analysis rather than restricting access.
The 'Ingelfinger rule' directly addresses the practice of editors demanding citations from their own journals.
Answer: False
The Ingelfinger rule pertains to policies regarding prior publication of research, not directly to editors demanding citations.
The 'least publishable unit' (LPU) concept encourages researchers to consolidate findings into comprehensive publications, thereby reducing citation pressures.
Answer: False
The 'least publishable unit' (LPU) concept refers to the practice of dividing research into the smallest possible publication units, potentially increasing publication counts rather than reducing citation pressures.
The 'serials crisis' refers to the declining quality of articles submitted to academic journals.
Answer: False
The 'serials crisis' primarily concerns the escalating cost of journal subscriptions, making them increasingly unaffordable for libraries and institutions.
What is the general stance of initiatives like DORA and the Leiden Manifesto regarding journal impact factors?
Answer: They caution against the over-reliance on simplistic metrics like impact factors and promote responsible evaluation.
Initiatives such as DORA and the Leiden Manifesto emphasize responsible research assessment, advising caution against the excessive reliance on journal impact factors and advocating for more nuanced evaluation methods.
What is the purpose of the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC)?
Answer: To promote the open sharing of structured citation data for better analysis.
The Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) aims to facilitate the open availability of citation data, enabling more transparent analysis and potentially aiding in the identification of citation manipulation.
What is the 'least publishable unit' (LPU) practice related to?
Answer: Dividing research findings into the smallest possible pieces to maximize the number of publications.
The 'least publishable unit' (LPU) refers to the practice of fragmenting research results into the smallest publishable components, often to increase the quantity of publications.
The 'serials crisis' in academic publishing primarily refers to:
Answer: The increasing cost of journal subscriptions, making them unaffordable for libraries.
The 'serials crisis' denotes the escalating costs of academic journal subscriptions, which pose significant financial challenges for libraries and limit access to scholarly resources.