Iranian medical English journals: reference analysis based on journal selection criteria in WOS, PubMed and Scopus

Objective: The references are an important component of citation analysis. In this study, it is aimed to determine the reference analysis of Iranian Medical English Journals (IMEJ) based on WOS, Scopus and PubMed journal selection criteria. Methods: This study is a descriptive quantitative analysis which deals with the last issues of 52 numbers of IMEJ which haven\u27t been indexed in WOS, Scopus, and PubMed. The data were collected observing the journals data provider websites and then entered into a checklist tool. MS Excel software was used for data analysis. Results: About 88.5% of journals had their own reference style. In 60.9% of journals, the amount of failure in the reference style was less than 10%. The average of self-citations to authors and journal articles, were 3.6% and 1.2%, respectively. The average percentage of foreign references was 83.6%. Most of the references were old and only 2.9% of references were done in the study year. Journals with 87.2%, had received most of the references. Conclusion: References old date, imbalance the format of cited resources, and high distances between the rate of Iranian and foreign references, were the shortcomings of cited references in IMEJ