Document Type : Articles

Authors

• J. Mehrad ¹
• M. Goltaji ²

¹ Ph.D. , President of the Regional Information Center for Science and Technology

² M.S. , Islamic World Science Citation Center

Abstract

This study investigates correlation between journal self – citation and impact factor in Agriculture and Veterinary subject category through the scientific journals indexed in ISC's PJCR during 2001 to 2007. Citation analysis is used to conduct the research. The results indicate a significant correlation between impact factor and journal self – citation (r=0.425, sig= 0.000); that is, journals with low impact factor have less self – citation that indicates self – citation has a positive effect on impact factor. Pearson Correlation Coefficient demonstrates a relationship between impact factor and number of articles in negative side (r=-0.170, sig=0.037) that means the number of articles does not affect journal impact factor and also journals with more articles do not have higher impact factor. There is a significant relationship between the number of articles and journal self – citation (r= 0.596, sig = 0.000) that indicates the more number of articles the more number of self-citations. Findings show that journal self – cited rate in Agriculture and Veterinary subject category during 2001 to 2007 has undergone a descending process. After the removal of journal self – citation, the rank of 47 journals descended, 86 journals ascended, the rank of 18 journals did not change and the impact factor of 28 journals decreased to zero.