Journal Self-Citation V: Coercive Journal Self-Citation – Manipulations to Increase Impact Factors May Do More Harm than Good in the Long Run

Journal self-citation and its effect on impact factors is a much more controversial and hotly debated topic than most academics realize. In this paper I present empirical and editorial support that practices and policies of editors, publishers authors and reviewers intended to raise a journal’s impact factors by any means other than publishing the highest quality original work of authors may in fact do more harm than good to the journal and to the academy as a whole. Finally, I echo the call of those that have studied and written on the issue to abandon the practice for the sake of scientific integrity