A Study on Self-Citation in Information Science Field

Abstract

This article reviews the self-citation concept that has been mentioned frequently in bibliometric studies and reveals the contribution of Turkey to the information science literature. The study examines Turkey addressed articles of information science journals in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Analysis was made on author, institution, country and journal self-citations. Turkey has 119 articles between the years 1974-2008 that were published in the information science journals. All these articles were written in English. The most preferred information science journal to publish articles for Turkey addressed authors is Information Processing & Management. 99 of 119 articles of Turkey addressed information science articles were cited at least once by the publications in citation indexes. Total number of citations of Turkey addressed articles was 621. On the other hand country self-citation, institution self-citation, author self-citation and journal self-citation ratios were found to be 46%, 28%, 26% and 20% respectively. Self-citation ratios show Turkey’s orientation in the international literature of information science.