Being authors from Asian countries make it a vulnerable target for Editor to coerce citation. Journal editors can strategically target younger professors from Asian countries. The editor forces authors to add unnecessary citations to an article before the journal will agree to publish it. The editor knows that the authors need to get their papers published and therefore more willing to add any unnecessary citations. This article shows a proof in the IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology Journal, which has 2 special issues on Recent advances in solid state lighting. Read more at http://www.booksie.com/editorial_and_opinion/article/rohwani/coercive-citation-in-asian-authors#MfrsCWu2Euoh7Uu2.99
Here is a proof in the IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology Journal, which published 2 special issues on Recent advances in solid state lighting. The Guest Editor is Nelson tansu, a well known professor for alleged self citation.
IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology Volume 9, Issue 4 (April 2013).
Each of the papers in the Special issue is analysed and showed that all of the papers cited Tansu unnecessarily
Effects of H2 in GaN barrier spacer layer of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum-well light-emitting diodes. Lai, W.-C., Yang, Y.-Y. 2013.10 citations to Tansu
Investigating the effect of piezoelectric polarization on GaN-based LEDs with different quantum barrier thickness. Wang, C.K., Chiang, T.H., Chen, K.Y., Chiou, Y.Z., Lin, T.K., Chang, S.P., Chang, S.J. 9 citations to Tansu
c)Lateral current spreading effect on the efficiency droop in GaN based light-emitting diodes. Huang, S., Fan, B., Chen, Z., Zheng, Z., Luo, H., Wu, Z., Wang, G., Jiang, H. 8 citations to Tansu
Effect of polarization-matched n-type AlGaInN electron-blocking layer on the optoelectronic properties of blue InGaN light-emitting diodes. Li, Y., Gao, Y., He, M., Zhou, J., Lei, Y., Zhang, L., Zhu, K., Chen, Y. 11 citations to Tansu
Effects of initial GaN growth mode on patterned sapphire on the opto-electrical characteristics of GaN-based light-emitting diodes. Chang, H.-M., Lai, W.-C., Chang, S.-J. 6 citations to Tansu
On the Effect of Step-Doped Quantum Barriers in InGaN/GaN Light Emitting Diodes. Zi-Hui Zhang ; Tan, S.T. ; Zhengang Ju ; Wei Liu ; Yun Ji ; Kyaw, Z. ; Dikme, Y. ; Xiao Wei Sun ; Demir, H.V. 11 citations to Tansu
Effects of H2in GaN Barrier Spacer Layer of InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum-Well Light-Emitting Diodes. Wei-Chih Lai ; Ya-Yu Yang. 10 citations to Tansu
Improved Carrier Distributions by Varying Barrier Thickness for InGaN/GaN LEDs. Yu, S.F. ; Ray-Ming Lin ; Chang, S.J. ; Chen, J.R. ; Chu, J.Y. ; Kuo, C.T. ; Jiao, Z.Y. 10 citations to Tansu
Effect of Si Doping Level in n-Cladding Layer on the Performance of InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Zhiyuan Zheng ; Zimin Chen ; Yingda Chen ; Hualong Wu ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang 7 citations to Tansu
Performance Improvement of Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Diode With a Thin Mg-Delta-Doped Hole Injection Layer. Yulun Xian ; Shanjin Huang ; Zhiyuan Zheng ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zimin Chen ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Baijun Zhang ; Hao Jiang 9 citations to Tansu
Observation of Electroluminescence From Quantum Wells Far From p-GaN Layer in Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Zhiyuan Zheng ; Zimin Chen ; Yingda Chen ; Hualong Wu ; Shanjin Huang ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang.8 citations to Tansu
Lateral Current Spreading Effect on the Efficiency Droop in GaN Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Shanjin Huang ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zimin Chen ; Zhiyuan Zheng ; Hongtai Luo ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang . 8 citations to Tansu
First-Principle Electronic Properties of Dilute-As GaNAs Alloy for Visible Light Emitters. Chee-Keong Tan ; Jing Zhang ; Xiao-Hang Li ; Guangyu Liu ; Tayo, B.O. ; Tansu, N. 8 citations to Tansu
Efficiency and Droop Improvement in Hybrid Warm White LEDs Using InGaN and AlGaInP High-Voltage LEDs. Kuo-Ju Chen ; Hsuan-Ting Kuo ; Yen-Chih Chiang ; Hsin-Chu Chen ; Chao-Hsun Wang ; Min-Hsiung Shih ; Chien-Chung Lin ; Ching-Jen Pan ; Hao-Chung Kuo 3 citations to Tansu
Enhanced Light Output Power and Growth Mechanism of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on Cone-ShapedPatterned Template. Da-Wei Lin ; Jhih-Kai Huang ; Chia-Yu Lee ; Ruey-Wen Chang ; Yu-Pin Lan ; Chien-Chung Lin ; Kang-Yuan Lee ; Chung-Hsiang Lin ; Po-Tsung Lee ; Gou-Chung Chi ; Hao-Chung Kuo 6 citations to Tansu
Effects of Initial GaN Growth Mode on Patterned Sapphire on the Opto-Electrical Characteristics of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Hung-Ming Chang ; Wei-Chih Lai ; Shoou-Jinn Chang. 6 citations to Tansu
Analysis of interdiffused InGaN quantum wells for visible light-emitting diodes. Zhao, H., Jiao, X., Tansu, N. 10 citations to Tansu
Analysis of internal quantum efficiency and current injection efficiency in III-nitride light-emitting diodes. Zhao, H., Liu, G., Zhang, J., Arif, R.A., Tansu, N. 16 citations to Tansu
SemipolarInGaN/GaN Light-Emitting Diodes for High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting; Feezell, D.F. ; Speck, J.S. ; DenBaars, S.P. ; Nakamura, S. 1 citation to Tansu
All papers have 6-16 citations to Tansu, and noticed all the authors are from China, Taiwan and Singapore where an editor can easily coerced the authors.
The only paper that escaped is by Feezell and Shuji Nakamura, a well-known authority in InGaN LED.
This is in accordance with the research by Wilhite and Fong that many journal editors appear to strategically target certain authors, such as assistant and associate professors (from Asian countries), rather than full professors (Nakamura), relying on the fact that lower ranking authors may be more willing to add the unnecessary citations. They also found that while the majority of authors disapprove of the practice, most acquiesce and add citations when coerced.
This pattern is observed and more pronounced in the special issue which was continued in Issue 5, Tansu was again a guest editor for IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology in Volume 9, Issue 5 (May 2013).
FDTD Analysis on Extraction Efficiency of GaN Light-Emitting Diodes With Microsphere Arrays Zhu, P. ; Liu, G. ; Zhang, J. ; Tansu, N. 12 citations to Tansu
Light Extraction Efficiency Enhancement of III-Nitride Light-Emitting Diodes by Using 2-D Close-Packed Microsphere Arrays Xiao-Hang Li ; Peifen Zhu ; Guangyu Liu ; Jing Zhang ; Renbo Song ; Yik-Khoon Ee ; Kumnorkaew, P. ; Gilchrist, J.F. ; Tansu, N. 11 citations to Tansu
Design and Analysis of “Chess Board” Like Photonic Crystal Structure for Improved Light Extraction in GaN/InGaN LEDs Patra, S.K. ; Adhikari, S. ; Pal, S. 9 citations to Tansu
Improved Light Extraction Efficiency of Nonpolar a-Plane GaN-Based LEDs Based on Embedded Pyramid-Shape Air-Gap Structure Park, M.J. ; Hwang, S.J. ; Kim, H.J. ; Jung, S. ; Bang, K.H. ; Kim, H.G. ; Chang, Y. ; Choi, Y. ; Kwak, J.S. 11 citations to Tansu
GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes With Step Graded-Refractive Index Micropillar Array Hung-Ming Chang ; Ya-Yu Yang ; Wei-Chih Lai ; Shuguang Li ; Yu-Ru Lin ; Zhi-Yong Jiao ; Shoou-Jinn Chang9 citations to Tansu
InGaN-Based Resonant-Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated With a Distributed Bragg Reflector and Metal Reflector for Visible Light Communications Chia-Lung Tsai ; Chih-Ta Yen ; Wei-Jhih Huang ; Zhong-Fan Xu ; Sun-Chien Ko 14 citations to Tansu
A Stress Analysis of Transferred Thin-GaN Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated by Au-Si Wafer Bonding Bo-Wen Lin ; Nian-Jheng Wu ; Wu, Y.C.S. ; Hsu, S.C. 15 citations to Tansu
A GaN-Based LED With Perpendicular Structure Fabricated on a ZnO Substrate by MOCVD Yan Lei ; Jia Xu ; Kebao Zhu ; Miao He ; Jun Zhou ; You Gao ; Li Zhang ; Yulong Chen 9 citations to Tansu
A Highly Power-Efficient LED Back-Light Power Supply for LCD Display Woo-Young Choi 12 citations to Tansu
Analysis and Suppression of Overcurrent in Boost LED Drivers Yuan-Ta Hsieh ; Ying-Zong Juang 11 citations to Tansu
LED Junction Temperature Measurement Using Generated Photocurrent Lock, D.A. ; Hall, S.R.G. ; Prins, A.D. ; Crutchley, B.G. ; Kynaston, S. ; Sweeney, S.J. 2 citations to Tansu
Light Extracting Properties of Buried Photonic Quasi-Crystal Slabs in InGaN/GaN LEDs Lewins, C.J. ; Allsopp, D.W.E. ; Shields, P.A. ; Gao, X. ; Humphreys, B. ; Wang, W.N. 0 citations to Tansu
Surface-Roughened Light-Emitting Diodes: An Accurate Model David, A.0 citations to Tansu
All papers in this issue have 9-14 citations to Tansu, and noticed the authors are from China, Taiwan, Korea, India and Singapore where an editor can easily coerced the authors.
Only papers by English authors managed to escape the coercion. This is a big anomaly, why 2 of the American papers do not quote Tansu in the references while all other papers have 9-14 citations to Tansu?
Not unexpectedly, citation manipulation is observed. The subject gained more than 270 citations from two special issues, thanks to IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology.
"With great power comes great responsibility“ is what Peter Parker said.
Being selected as an editor or associate editor of a scientific and academic journal is exciting. It gives you power to decide which paper should be published. The main respossibilities are
To decide which papers meet the criteria for scientific excellence and relevance for the community the journal serves
To seek out exciting new areas for publication; identify and solicit thought-provoking and controversial papers
To assure that all submitted manuscripts receive prompt, critical evaluation, and meet or better timeliness goals
To authors, an editor should look at
The instructions to authors will need reviewing to ensure they are up to date with current guidelines.
They should clearly state what is expected of authors and what the editor will do in cases of suspected misconduct such as plagiarism or data fabrication.
Editors should work with the journal publisher/editorial office to agree processes for handling submissions that are the most efficient and appropriate for the journal
However as editor, are they allow to publish his own paper in his journal?
Editors should able to publish in their own journal, but they must not exploit their position.
The journal must have a procedure for handling submissions from the editor or members of the editorial board that ensures that peer review is handled independently of the author/editor.
But with this power, and Edito can have hidden responsibilities:
Increase Journal’s Impact Factor
Publish own work
Increase own citations
Editors may artificially increase their journal’s IF by
(1) Coercive citation: facilitating or even demanding self-citation
(2) increasing editorials with citations,
(3) limiting the total number of articles and/or the number of original papers and increasing the number of review and/or technical articles that are more likely to be
(4) prerelease or timing of publication early during a year thus allowing more time for citation for a given year
The World Journal of Gastroenterology in 2000, the journal received its first impact factor, 0.993. The next year, in 2001, it increased to 1.445.
In 2002, It increased again to 2.532 and In 2003 to 3.318.
96% of citations contributing to Cereal Research Communications‘ impact factor in 2007 were self-citations.
The IF Algorithm: The number of times items published in Nature during 2006-2007 were cited in journals during 2008 divided by The number of ‘citable’ articles published in Nature in 2006 and 2007 (substantive items, primary research articles, reviews)
Thus a journal publishing lots of ‘non-citable’ items can achieve a higher IF than journals that predominantly publish ‘citable’items = More Editorials!
Editorials are great as:
Exempt from peer review, an editor is able to cite many articles from one’s own journal and have it published quickly and without delay.
As an example
“The NHJ 2012 in retrospect: which articles are cited most?” by E.E. Van der Wall, editor of the Netherlands Heart Journal. Published in December 2012, the brief editorial contains 25 self-citations to the NHJ, 24 of which cite articles written between 2010 and 2011 — the window from which the journal’s next impact factor will be calculated.
Some editors used their journal as a personal vehicle for dissemination and promotion of their own work. In the December 2008 issue of Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Five of the articles are written by the editor, Mohamed El Naschie. In 2008, El Naschiewrote 60 papers in the journal. El Naschie has written nearly 300 articles in the journal since its inception.
Of the 31 papers not written by El Naschie in the an issue of Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, at least 11 are related to his theories and include 58 citations of his work in the journal.
The International Journal of Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation (IJNSNS), founded in 2000 by Ji Huan-He. In 2008 IJNSNS had an impact factor of 8.91
Ji-Huan He, the founder and editor-in-chief of IJNSNS, is also an editor of another journal Chaos Solitons and Fractals (CSF). Both He and El Naschie publish a lot, not only in their own journals but also in each other’s, and they cite each other frequently.
The top-citing author to IJNSNS in 2008 was the journal’s own editor-in-chief, Ji-Huan He, who cited the journal 243 times. The three editors of the journal account for 29% of the citations counted toward the impact factor.
Editorial feedback to corresponding authors can request the authors to include self-citations. Citation coercion has been experienced by about 20% of academic authors, and younger faculty are more likely to succumb when editors or publishers“request” more journal citations. While the vast majority of respondents (86%) viewed citation coercion as inappropriate behavior, more than half (57%) indicated that they would consent to the request.
Becoming editor or guest editor of a journal can give a power
“you cite my article only once in your 40 references. Consequently, I kindly ask you to add references of my articles to your present article”.
As an example the IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology, Special Issue Volume 9, Issue 4 (April 2013). Recent advances in solid state lighting with Guest Editor: Nelson Tansu
In conclusion Editor position can be abused with aims
To increase journal’s impact factor, to increase Editor’s own publications, to increase Editor’s own citations and h index
“I wish you all a nice, productive, and citable 2013.”
When Severn Cullis-Suzuki stepped on stage at the plenary session of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, she knew this was her one opportunity to speak to the world’s most influential decision-makers.
Just twelve years old at the time, she seized her once-in-a-lifetime chance to tell every politician, businessman and journalist at the UN: “You are what you do, not what you say… I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.” More than 21 million people have watched the speech on YouTube, where you can see that her address to silenced the entire plenary session. Severn’s young voice made it unmistakably clear why we all must take immediate action to save the environment.
Twenty years have passed and Severn is now 32 years old, married, a mother of two young boys and an outspoken activist for environmental justice. She has received the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global 500 Roll of Honour, published a book, studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, co-hosted a children’s television series that aired on Discovery Kids, and launched an internet-based think tank called The Skyfish Project which was integral to the creation of the “Recognition of Responsibility” pledge at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002.
On June 17th 2012, she returned to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. When I recorded Severn’s speech three days ago at an event hosted by WeCanada and later met her for a short interview (coming soon), I was deeply inspired to see that she had stayed true to the same values she expressed so powerfully in 1992. Though her scientific education has made her statements more refined and her age has added experience and wisdom, her belief in the power of intergenerational love is still at the heart of her message.
“Twenty years on I come back to the same argument I made as a child with my presence at the summit. The strongest moral imperative that we have to act and change is our children. It is because of our children that we will bring back the connection between cause and effect, between choices, the global situation, between privilege and responsibility. In identifying our moral imperative lies hope and our hope is love – love for our children,” she said.
Li Ching - Yuen from China lived 256 years, born in 1677 in the town of Qi Jiang Xian in the Szechuan province.
He was a martial artist and a tactical adviser and he died in 1933, having over 200 descendants during his life span and surviving 23 wives.
How did he do it?
Ching-Yuen is reported to have lived off a diet of herbs and rice wine inculding lingzhi, Goji Berries- wild ginseng, he shou wu and gotu kola.
Is there proof?
In a 1930 New York Times article, Professor Wu Chung-chieh of the University of Chengdu found Imperial Chinese government records from 1827, congratulating Li Ching-Yuen on his 150th birthday.
Further documents later congratulate him on his 200th birthday in 1877.
Bolivia became the first McDonald’s-free Latin American nation, after struggling for more than a decade to keep their numbers out of ‘the red.’ And that fact is still making news. After 14 years in the nation and despite many campaigns and promos McDonald’s was forced to close in 2002, its 8 Bolivian restaurants in the major cities of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
McDonald’s served its last hamburgers in Bolivia, after announcing a global restructuring plan in which it would close its doors in seven other countries with poor profit margins.
The failure of McDonald’s in Bolivia had such a deep impact that a documentary titled “Por que quebro McDonald’s en Bolivia” or “Why did McDonald’s Bolivia go Bankrupt,” trying to explain why did Bolivians never crossed-over from their empanadas to Big Macs.
The story has also attracted world wide attention toward fast foods in Latin America. El Polvorin blog noted:
“Fast-food represents the complete opposite of what Bolivians consider a meal should be. To be a good meal, food has to have be prepared with love, dedication, certain hygiene standards and proper cook time.”
It's a sandwich made from a double cheeseburger and a McChicken sandwich — where you put an entire McChicken sandwich inside a double cheeseburger.
The name is obscene — "gangbang"
They should be ban
What is the purpose of citations. How do we gain citations.
Part of my series of lectures provide a detail discussion on the role of citations, its use and abuse by professors. Find out how they do it.
Next time you cancatch them!
BTW, I am available to give this lecture, invite me
Publishing in Conference Proceedings are some of the best and exciting moment of a scientists.
There are many reasons to publish on one or several conference proceedings
You can get your results out to the science world quickly and you can gain some publications easily
Then becomes an opprotunity to increase the number of papers and also citations. Find out how many tricky professors abuse the system.. Learn how they do it and catch them!
This is my series of lecture on Academic Publications: Use and Abuse
I am available to give lectures on all of this topic.. Invite me
Becoming a Journal Editor is exciting and yet can be overwhelming.
You are given power to decide the fate of a scientific publications. You should do it honestly, or... you can take advantage of it.
Cite my papers, and I let you paper get published...
But we have to remember the advice "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility..."
Here is my lecture to the academic staff.
One in five academics in a range of business and social sciences said that in order to get published in some journals, they have been asked to add to their papers with superfluous references. These citations are added without contributing any useful information to the papers. Te reason is that the editors will try to boost their journals' impact factor. This is a spotlight of Wilhite and Fong research in the Science journal. Fong became interested in the problem when he was asked by a journal editor to cite more articles from that journal as a condition of publication. “Until this happened to me, I had never heard of such a thing”. Fong and Wilhite enquired about this matter to their colleagues and found that a number of people were familiar with the practice.
What is even more appalling is that editors are skilful about when and when not to coerce authors into adding illegitimate self-citations. They have to be smart, because this practice is disfavoured. If editors of a journal are caught for coercive citation, its reputation will suffer: there's yet a chance of being excluded from the impact factor list of ISI Journal Citation Reports. Editors are on the ball in the game by applying three major tactics. First, they for the most part target those authors that are most likely to submit: Young scientists, who are easily intimidated and for whom the publication pressure is most prevalent. Second, they primarily target authors from Asian countries for whom English is not the strongest point and would likely to be easily intimidated. Third, they target papers with a small number of authors. This minimizes the risk of repute marring: The fewer people know about it, the better.
Whilhite and Fong provided a list of the nastiest offenders. The top 5 consists entirely of journals from business (marketing, accounting, finance, etc.), the discipline in which coercive citations is most prevalent.
Here’s the Top 10 ranking worst offenders:
Journal of Business Research
Journal of Retailing
Marketing Science
Journal of Banking and Finance
Information and Management
Applied Economics
Academy of Management Journal
Group and Organization Management
Journal of Consumer Psychology
Psychology and Marketing
It doesn’t augur well for the reputation of the journals that practice coercive citation. Nevertheless it is part of the game of managing impact factors that are critical for evaluation and marketing of journals. Wilhite and Fong gave two tangible examples how coerced citation acts:
“Recently a friend had an article accepted for publication. Two weeks after that acceptance the editor sent another letter asking the author to add citations from his journal. Specifically the editor wrote, you only use one (name of my journal) source which is unacceptable. Please add at least five more relevant-(name of my journal) sources.”
Another colleague had a similar experience at the submission stage; the editor asked her for three more citations to his journal before he would send her manuscript out for review. Note, these citation requests did not mention omitted content or shortcomings in the manuscript’s analysis; they simply asked authors to cite related articles in the editor’s journal.”
Fong suggest that academic associations should come to act:
“Without action, the situation is likely to deteriorate. (…) Academic associations could help by officially condemning the practice. Their action would raise the cost of coercion to editors and might help persuade organizations that promote impact factors to remove self-citations from those calculations, which would eliminate the coercive motive.”
While the article focuses on economics, business, sociology and psychology, the problem is likely endemic to all journals. Coercive citation can also be practiced by an individual serving as editor of a journal with the aim to boost one’s own citations. Failure to recognize this trend is likely to cause an underestimation of the breadth of practice in this topic. I recently conducted my study for an individual Professor Nelson Tansu in electrical engineering. My analysis based on tangible data is compelling and appalling. As an editor of a special issue in IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology, Volume 9, Issue 4 (April 2013). http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=6481607&punumber=9425.
The special issue that feature ‘Recent advances in solid state lighting’ becomes ‘Recent advances in N. Tansu coercive citations’. Each of the papers in the Special issue was analysed and showed that all of the papers cited Tansu unnecessarily and excessively. All papers in the mentioned Special Issue have 6-10 citations to Tansu, and the authors of the papers are from China, Taiwan and Singapore where Tansu can easily intimidate and coerce citations. The only paper that managed to do without coercive citation is by a well-known authority in InGaN LED. Read about my full analysis in my last post or here http://www.slideshare.net/malirohwani/coercive-citation
I feel like to say we should stop using citation volume, h index, impact factor and innovate. H index and Impact factor is like a self-fulfilling prophecy that tends to transform the academia in a competition game among scholar and journals. One may expect this kind of behavior by editors of journals that desperately want to be recognized as a top-tier. One could also be cynical about the real contribution of editors in journals, but the fact that citation coercion is a normative behavior for multiple titles in these fields may say something about how academics in these fields perceive the role of scholarship. This corruption also takes the form of citing articles one never read, let alone used in coming up with ideas. This is one of the worst sins one can commit in American academic circles. In sciences where multi-author articles are the norm, corruption means big names pushing their way into position as one of the authors, often without doing much of the work or coming up with the key ideas.
Research Ethics: Coercive Citation in Academic Publishing
Two faculty members from The University of Alabama in Huntsville’s College of Business Administration have been published in the journal Science for their investigation of an important issue in research ethics. Share This: 31 Dr. Allen W. Wilhite, and Dr. Eric A. Fong co-authored a paper on the unethical practices of some journal publications, articulating results from their research to show that some editors coerce authors into adding unnecessary citations to articles in the same journal that is considering publishing the submitted work. Journal editors want to increase the number of times articles within their journals are cited by researchers – because it raises the journal ranking and is used to make claims of prestige and importance.
"When we first learned about coercion we were stunned, but after asking around we found that several people were aware of this behavior." said Dr. Wilhite, "At that point we decided to look into the extent and consequences of the practice." The duo analyzed 6,672 responses from a survey that was sent to researchers in the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, and business. According to their research, Wilhite and Fong determined that many journal editors engage in the practice of coercion, requiring authors to add citations to the journal that is considering publishing the work. They require additional citation of articles in the journal that will publish the work -- without (1) indicating that the article was actually deficient in attribution, (2) suggesting particular articles, authors, or bodies of work, or (3) guiding authors to add citations from the other journals.
Furthermore, the work of Wilhite and Fong indicates that many journal editors appear to even strategically target certain authors, such as assistant and associate professors, rather than full professors, relying on the fact that lower ranking authors may be more willing to add the unnecessary citations. They also found that while the majority of authors disapprove of the practice, most acquiesce and add citations when coerced. "This type of behavior hurts all of academia," said Dr. Fong, " and affects the integrity of academic publications." ""We hope this research brings this unethical practice to light. If left unchecked, it could distort our understanding of journal quality and research impact and, over time, influence decisions about tenure, promotion, awards and funding. Importantly, it is adding to the pressures faced by vulnerable junior faculty who are trying to build a record for tenure," said Dr. Caron St. John, Dean of UAHuntsville's College of Business.
Coercive citation is a
malpractice in academic publishing wherein an editor of a scientific journal
approached and coerced authors to add unwarranted citations to articles before
the editor will agree to publish it. Previous study only investigated coercive
citation from editors to enrich journals’ citations. However this practice has
not been researched in an individual serving as editor or reviewer for a
journal performing coercive citation with the ambition to boost one’s own
citations. This research project undertakes a case study in electrical
engineering. My finding is compelling and exposed that the subject of this
study is involved in soliciting and coercing other authors into citing his
articles in 2 major ways: (1) As editors of several journals, (2) A Guest
Editor for a Special Issue. Substantial evidence and proofs from citations of
the individual and journals are presented along with the discussion and
arguments. The implication of this practice is discussed, mainly to cause agony
in the integrity of academic publications.
The
significance of scientific publishing has become very clear, not just about the
communication of research discoveries but become an obligation of the academic society,
academicians get credit for their work through citations and it was used as a
measure of their triumph and success. Citation to a published scientific
publication reference, typically a paper, allows one to judge the work, as source
background information vital for future development, and acknowledges the
contributions. Citation indexes
originally were designed for information retrieval, but now are commonly used
for research appraisal. Scientific publication is scrutinized by the quantity
of citations it can collect. Citation is the foundation of the journal impact
factor and h index.
Coercive
citation is a malpractice in academic publishing wherein an editor of a
scientific journal approached and coerced authors to add unwarranted citations
to articles before the editor will agree to publish it. Journal editors want to
increase the citations of their journals, because it raises the journal’s
impact factor and ranking, which is a prestige. Manipulation of impact factors
and self-citation has long been known in academic publishing. While self-citation
can be easily detected, coercive citation is difficult to discover. A paper in Science in 2012 by Wilhite and Fong
indicated that about 20% of academics working in economics, sociology, psychology,
and multiple business disciplines have experienced coercive citation [1].
Individual cases in journals have also been reported in other disciplines [2].
Coercive
citation was reported to be practiced by the editors of scientific journals
without indicating that the article was actually lacking in provenance, nor
suggesting particular articles, authors, or bodies of work, but merely
directing authors to add citations from a particular author or journal [1].
This
quote from an editor as a condition for publication highlights the quandary:
“you cite This Journal only once in
your 40 references. Consequently, we kindly ask you to add references of
articles published in This Journal to
your present article”.
Such a message is
clearly deciphered by the authors that the summoned citations must be added or
the article will be rejected.[1,3]
Wilhite
and Fong [1] studied coercive citation from editors to enhance journals’
citations, but this practice of coercive citation can also be practiced by as
an individual serving as editor or reviewer for a journal with the aim to boost
one’s own citations. Failure to recognize this trend is likely to cause an
underestimation of the breadth of practice in this topic. Researching an
individual does however provide a good understanding of the overall trend of
publication and citation. This type of coercive citation has never been studied
at a micro-level on individual. To explore the extent and nature of such
coercive self-citation, I will conduct a research project in this exciting new
area using a case study; the citation pattern is carefully analyzed to expose
the practice of coercive citation. By analyzing progressions in research
citations, directions in scientific inquiry can be established, and used to
illustrate the development of scientific publishing and recognition.
I conducted this
research project by investigating a case study using an individual who is well
known anecdotally on the World Wide Web in practicing self-citation. Nelson Tansu
is a Professor of Electrical Engineering who is well known to have a very high self-citation
[4]. Some anecdotal studies indicated that the subject has over 50% of self-citations,
supposedly to be deliberate in order to increase his citation numbers and h
index [5-6]. While self-citation can be easily found out, coercive citation is
a more sophisticated method which is not obvious. This research paper seeks to
characterize the influence of coercive citation for a particular individual for
one’s personal benefits. In order to analyze this inclination, publication and
citation numbers and patterns were searched and subsequently recovered from a
research database Scopus.
Citation databases make
it possible to search cited references; that is, they search for references
that are listed in the bibliographies of research publications. This enabled
one to follow a particular cited reference, or cited author, forward in time to
find other articles or journals that have cited that author or work.
Upon conducting a
search using the Scopus database, I retrieved citation patterns of the subject
in different ways, which I will explain in the following sections. There are a
number of factors that can be used in order to narrow down the potential citation
anomaly.
The analysis is
compelling and showed that the subject of this study is hypothesized in soliciting
and coercing other authors into citing his articles in 3 ways:
The position held as an Associate Editor
allows one to solicit and importune the authors into citing the editor’s papers.
This is evident as most of the citations of the subject came from the
above-mentioned 3 journals.
The conclusion is
justified by three methods of investigation, which is singled out in Scopus
database and I will outline in detail in the following sections.
Up
to May 2013, the subject Tansu has 3131 citations. During Jan 2012-May 2013,
Tansu obtained almost half of his total citations. These two years represent a
sudden increase in citation volume. I will found out why.
Premise: If coercive citation is to occur, the
citations to the subject should come mainly from the mentioned-above 3
journals.
In
2012, Tansu acquired 621 citations, which came from 204 articles, meaning each
article are on average gave 3 citations.
However,
the top references came from:
Optical Materials Express (17 references)
IEEE Photonics Journal (16 references)
In
Jan-May 2013, Tansu obtained 685 citations, which is very high considering it
is only 5 months and more citations than previous whole year.
The
citations came from 158 articles, meaning each article is on average gave 4
citations. However, the top references came from:
IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology (37
references)
Optical Materials Express (11 references)
IEEE Photonics Journal (5 references)
This
anomaly is mirrored in further evidences in the following sections.
I also inspected the
citations of the subject’s individual papers.
Premise: If coercive citation is to occur, the
citations to the individual papers of the subject should come mainly from the
mentioned-above 3 journals.
My finding is that most
citations should come from the above-mentioned 3 journals. These are somewhat not
extraordinary and herewith are some evidential proofs from some of the papers
of the subject:
1.Zhao H., Liu G., Zhang
J., Poplawsky J.D., Dierolf V., Tansu N.Approaches for high internal quantum efficiency green InGaN
light-emitting diodes with large overlap quantum wells. 2011, Optics Express,
(14)
This paper has 160 citations. Tansu
himself has 17 self-citations, but the rest of citations come from
·33 citations are from IEEE OSA Journal of Display
Technology
·20 citations are from Optical Materials Express
·8 citations are from IEEE Photonics Journal
The subject gained 61
citations by coercing other authors to cite this paper.
2.Li X.-H., Song R., Ee
Y-.K., Kumnorkaew P., Gilchrist J.F., Tansu N.Light extraction efficiency and radiation patterns of III-nitride
light-emitting diodes with colloidal microlens arrays with various aspect
ratios. 2011, IEEE Photonics Journal, (3) 489-499
This paper has 89 citations, Tansu himself
has 10 self-citations,
·20 citations are from IEEE OSA Journal of Display
Technology
·13 citations are from Optical Materials Express
·5 citations are from IEEE Photonics Journal
The subject benefited 38
citations by coercing authors to cite this paper.
3.Zhao H., Liu G., Arif
R.A., Tansu N. Current injection efficiency induced efficiency-droop in InGaN
quantum well light-emitting diodes. 2010, Solid-State Electronics, (10)
1119-1124
This paper has 89 citations, Tansu himself
has 25 self citations,
·25 citations are from IEEE OSA Journal of Display
Technology
·12 citations are from IEEE Photonics Journal
·5 citations are from Optical Materials Express
The subject profited 42
citations from being editors of the 3 journals.
Another important
finding is that almost all of the citations come from articles from Asian
counties (Taiwan, China, Korea and Singapore). These 3 examples not
unexpectedly showed that the subject has gained more than 50% of citations from
being editors. This again justifies my premise; obviously the editor coerced
the authors to add superfluous citations.
In this era of
citation insanity, the choice of journal in which the research will be
published is very important. It is no longer just the number of published works
that measures an author’s success, but also perhaps more importantly, published
research is evaluated by the number of citations it receives. To validate this
hypothesis, I will look into the number of references cited by the papers in
the 3 journals.
Premise: If coercive citation is manifested,
the number of references to the subject (Tansu) should be huge compared to
other authors. Anomaly in references should be detected.
I thoroughly investigated the citations and references
in the 3 journals:
Citations in IEEE OSA
JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
In Jan-May 2013, the journal has 115
articles
Tansu is the top author with 6 papers
1410References were cited by the 115 articles.
Top on the cited list is Nakamura, S.
(with 45 citations) an obvious one. (Shuji Nakamura is the inventor of the blue
LED, a major breakthrough in lighting technology.)
But second on the list isTansu with 43 references.
In 2012, the journal has 123 articles
As Tansu was not an editor at the time, he
didn't publish a single article in the journal.
1787References were cited by the 123 articles.
But Tansu cannot be found in any of the
references.
This is an anomaly, in 2013 references to
Tansu jump from 0 to 43.
This can be easily explained because Tansu
became an editor in 2013 and guest edit a special issue (see below for a full
discussion).
By becoming an editor, the subject can benefit
and crown the citation list of IEEE OSA JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY.
Citations in Optical
Materials Express
In Jan-May 2013, the journal has published
54 articles.
Tansu didn't publish any paper.
1534References were cited by the 54 articles.
Number
one on the list is Tansu, with 25 references.
In 2012, the journal has 202 articles
Tansu didn't publish any paper.
In the 5094References that were cited by the 202
articles, Tansu shared 25 references.
In 2011, the journal has 170 articles.
Tansu didn't publish any paper.
In the 4294References that were cited by the 202
articles, Tansu shared 12 references.
Every year the number of citations to
Tansu increases showing the anomaly, especially in 2013, Tansu is the top cited
references.
Citations in IEEE
Photonics Journal
In Jan-May 2013, the journal has 93
articles
Tansu published 6 papers
In the 2261References that were cited by the 93 articles,
Tansu
is on the top list with 23 references
In 2012, the journal has 264 articles
Tansu has 2 papers
In the 5459References that were cited by the 264 articles,
Tansu
shared 37 references.
In 2011, the journal has 170 articles
Tansu didn't publish any paper
In the 2634References that were cited by the 114
selected articles,
Tansu
shared 13 references.
This trend is not observed in other journals in the same field: IEEE Photonics
Technology Letters, Applied Physics Letters, Optics Express, Applied Optics. In
other words the subject cannot be found as the top cited references. This means
the work of the subject is not considered important in other journals, but
raise interrogation on why became top cited references are only found in the 3
journals he edited.
Not unexpectedly, it
can be concluded that solicited and coercive citations to Tansu occurred and it
is not coincidental that after becoming an editor of a journal, the journal is
used to boost up his citations.
Remark: Number of references is not equal to number of
citations. Each reference could be cited many times by different papers. The
number of citations is usually higher than number of references.
Being part of an
editorial board (associate editors) for journals only allowed one to have
limited coercion to the papers an editor handle. But if one is selected as a
guest editor for a Special Issue, one can coerced all papers to cite one’s
papers. The subject was a guest editor for IEEE OSA Journal of Display
Technology in Volume 9, Issue 4 (April 2013).
Premise: If coercive citation is manifested,
the number of citations to the subject (Tansu) should occur on every paper in
the special issue and should be huge compared to other authors. Anomaly in
references should be detected.
The special issue that
feature Recent advances in solid state
lighting turns out to be Advancing one’s citations. Here each of the papers
in the Special issue is analysed and showed that all of the papers cited Tansu
unnecessarily:
a)Effects of H2 in GaN barrier spacer layer of InGaN/GaN
multiple quantum-well light-emitting diodes. Lai, W.-C., Yang, Y.-Y. 2013
10
citations to Tansu
b)Investigating the
effect of piezoelectric polarization on GaN-based LEDs with different quantum
barrier thickness. Wang, C.K., Chiang, T.H., Chen, K.Y., Chiou, Y.Z., Lin,
T.K., Chang, S.P., Chang, S.J.
9
citations to Tansu
c)Lateral current spreading effect on the efficiency
droop in GaN based light-emitting diodes. Huang, S., Fan, B., Chen, Z., Zheng,
Z., Luo, H., Wu, Z., Wang, G., Jiang, H.
8
citations to Tansu
d)Effect of
polarization-matched n-type AlGaInN electron-blocking layer on the
optoelectronic properties of blue InGaN light-emitting diodes. Li, Y., Gao, Y.,
He, M., Zhou, J., Lei, Y., Zhang, L., Zhu, K., Chen, Y.
11
citations to Tansu
e)Effects of initial GaN growth mode on patterned
sapphire on the opto-electrical characteristics of GaN-based light-emitting
diodes. Chang, H.-M., Lai, W.-C., Chang, S.-J.
6 citations
to Tansu
f)On the Effect of Step-Doped Quantum Barriers in
InGaN/GaN Light Emitting Diodes. Zi-Hui Zhang ; Tan, S.T. ; Zhengang Ju ; Wei
Liu ; Yun Ji ; Kyaw, Z. ; Dikme, Y. ; Xiao Wei Sun ; Demir, H.V.
11
citations to Tansu
g)Effects of H2in GaN Barrier Spacer Layer of InGaN/GaN
Multiple Quantum-Well Light-Emitting Diodes. Wei-Chih Lai ; Ya-Yu Yang
10
citations to Tansu
h)Improved Carrier
Distributions by Varying Barrier Thickness for InGaN/GaN LEDs. Yu, S.F. ;
Ray-Ming Lin ; Chang, S.J. ; Chen, J.R. ; Chu, J.Y. ; Kuo, C.T. ; Jiao, Z.Y.
10
citations to Tansu
i)Effect of Si Doping Level in n-Cladding Layer on the
Performance of InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Zhiyuan Zheng ; Zimin Chen ;
Yingda Chen ; Hualong Wu ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang
7
citations to Tansu
j)Performance Improvement of Nitride-Based
Light-Emitting Diode With a Thin Mg-Delta-Doped Hole Injection Layer. Yulun
Xian ; Shanjin Huang ; Zhiyuan Zheng ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zimin Chen ; Zhisheng Wu
; Gang Wang ; Baijun Zhang ; Hao Jiang
9
citations to Tansu
k)Observation of Electroluminescence From Quantum Wells
Far From p-GaN Layer in Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Zhiyuan Zheng ;
Zimin Chen ; Yingda Chen ; Hualong Wu ; Shanjin Huang ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zhisheng
Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang
8
citations to Tansu
l)Lateral Current Spreading Effect on the Efficiency
Droop in GaN Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Shanjin Huang ; Bingfeng Fan ; Zimin
Chen ; Zhiyuan Zheng ; Hongtai Luo ; Zhisheng Wu ; Gang Wang ; Hao Jiang
8
citations to Tansu
m)First-Principle Electronic Properties of
Dilute-As GaNAs Alloy for Visible Light Emitters. Chee-Keong Tan ; Jing Zhang ;
Xiao-Hang Li ; Guangyu Liu ; Tayo, B.O. ; Tansu, N.
8
citations to Tansu
n)Efficiency and Droop
Improvement in Hybrid Warm White LEDs Using InGaN and AlGaInP High-Voltage
LEDs. Kuo-Ju Chen ; Hsuan-Ting Kuo ; Yen-Chih Chiang ; Hsin-Chu Chen ;
Chao-Hsun Wang ; Min-Hsiung Shih ; Chien-Chung Lin ; Ching-Jen Pan ; Hao-Chung
Kuo
3 citations
to Tansu
o)Enhanced Light Output
Power and Growth Mechanism of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on
Cone-ShapedPatterned Template. Da-Wei
Lin ; Jhih-Kai Huang ; Chia-Yu Lee ; Ruey-Wen Chang ; Yu-Pin Lan ; Chien-Chung
Lin ; Kang-Yuan Lee ; Chung-Hsiang Lin ; Po-Tsung Lee ; Gou-Chung Chi ;
Hao-Chung Kuo
6
citations to Tansu
p)Effects of Initial GaN
Growth Mode on Patterned Sapphire on the Opto-Electrical Characteristics of
GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes. Hung-Ming Chang ; Wei-Chih Lai ; Shoou-Jinn Chang
6
citations to Tansu
q)Analysis of
interdiffused InGaN quantum wells for visible light-emitting diodes. Zhao, H.,
Jiao, X., Tansu, N.
10
citations to Tansu
r)Analysis of internal quantum efficiency and current
injection efficiency in III-nitride light-emitting diodes. Zhao, H., Liu, G.,
Zhang, J., Arif, R.A., Tansu, N.
16
citations to Tansu
s)SemipolarInGaN/GaN Light-Emitting Diodes for High-Efficiency Solid-State
Lighting; Feezell, D.F. ; Speck, J.S. ; DenBaars, S.P. ; Nakamura, S.
1
citation to Tansu
All papers have 6-10 citations to Tansu, and noticed all papers are from China, Taiwan and Singapore where an editor can easily coerced the authors. The only paper that escaped is by Feezell and Shuji Nakamura, a well-known authority in InGaN LED. This is in accordance with the research by Wilhite and Fong that many journal editors appear to strategically target certain authors, such as assistant and associate professors (from Asian countries), rather than full professors (Nakamura), relying on the fact that lower ranking authors may be more willing to add the unnecessary citations. They also found that while the majority of authors disapprove of the practice, most acquiesce and add citations when coerced.
This pattern is observed again in the special issue which was continued in Issue 5, Tansu was again a guest editor for IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology in Volume 9, Issue 5 (May 2013).
FDTD Analysis on Extraction Efficiency of GaN Light-Emitting Diodes With Microsphere Arrays
Zhu, P. ; Liu, G. ; Zhang, J. ; Tansu, N.
12 citations to Tansu
Light Extraction Efficiency Enhancement of III-Nitride Light-Emitting Diodes by Using 2-D Close-Packed Microsphere Arrays
Xiao-Hang Li ; Peifen Zhu ; Guangyu Liu ; Jing Zhang ; Renbo Song ; Yik-Khoon Ee ; Kumnorkaew, P. ; Gilchrist, J.F. ; Tansu, N.
11 citations to Tansu
Design and Analysis of “Chess Board” Like Photonic Crystal Structure for Improved Light Extraction in GaN/InGaN LEDs
Patra, S.K. ; Adhikari, S. ; Pal, S.
9 citations to Tansu
Improved Light Extraction Efficiency of Nonpolar a-Plane GaN-Based LEDs Based on Embedded Pyramid-Shape Air-Gap Structure
Park, M.J. ; Hwang, S.J. ; Kim, H.J. ; Jung, S. ; Bang, K.H. ; Kim, H.G. ; Chang, Y. ; Choi, Y. ; Kwak, J.S.
11 citations to Tansu
GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes With Step Graded-Refractive Index Micropillar Array
Hung-Ming Chang ; Ya-Yu Yang ; Wei-Chih Lai ; Shuguang Li ; Yu-Ru Lin ; Zhi-Yong Jiao ; Shoou-Jinn Chang
9 citations to Tansu
InGaN-Based Resonant-Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated With a Distributed Bragg Reflector and Metal Reflector for Visible Light Communications
Chia-Lung Tsai ; Chih-Ta Yen ; Wei-Jhih Huang ; Zhong-Fan Xu ; Sun-Chien Ko
14 citations to Tansu
A Stress Analysis of Transferred Thin-GaN Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated by Au-Si Wafer Bonding
Bo-Wen Lin ; Nian-Jheng Wu ; Wu, Y.C.S. ; Hsu, S.C.
15 citations to Tansu
A GaN-Based LED With Perpendicular Structure Fabricated on a ZnO Substrate by MOCVD
Yan Lei ; Jia Xu ; Kebao Zhu ; Miao He ; Jun Zhou ; You Gao ; Li Zhang ; Yulong Chen
9 citations to Tansu
A Highly Power-Efficient LED Back-Light Power Supply for LCD Display
Woo-Young Choi
12 citations to Tansu
Analysis and Suppression of Overcurrent in Boost LED Drivers
Yuan-Ta Hsieh ; Ying-Zong Juang
11 citations to Tansu
LED Junction Temperature Measurement Using Generated Photocurrent
Lock, D.A. ; Hall, S.R.G. ; Prins, A.D. ; Crutchley, B.G. ; Kynaston, S. ; Sweeney, S.J.
2 citations to Tansu
Light Extracting Properties of Buried Photonic Quasi-Crystal Slabs in InGaN/GaN LEDs
Lewins, C.J. ; Allsopp, D.W.E. ; Shields, P.A. ; Gao, X. ; Humphreys, B. ; Wang, W.N.
0 citations to Tansu
Surface-Roughened Light-Emitting Diodes: An Accurate Model
David, A.
0 citations to Tansu
All papers in this issue have 9-14 citations to Tansu, and noticed the authors are from China, Taiwan, Korea, India and Singapore where an editor can easily coerced the authors.
The only paper with English authors managed to escape the coercion. This is a big anomaly, why 2 of the American papers do not quote Tansu in the references while all other papers have 9-14 citations to Tansu?
Again, not unexpectedly, citation manipulation is
observed. The subject gained more than 270 citations from two special issues, thanks to IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology.
The excessive citations to Tansu in the
papers are not necessary and essentially superfluous. Take an example the paper
by Zhang et al. On the Effect of Step-Doped Quantum Barriers in InGaN/GaN Light
Emitting Diodes:
“For that, staggered
InGaN quantum wells have been proposed and investigated [16]–[20].” “ …,
therefore increasing the radiative recombination rates [23]–[26]”
References [16] -[20] and[23]–[26] are all papers by Tansu. This
finding is consistent with a previous study in SPIE Proceedings [6].
In addition to being
editors, according to his CV http://www.ece.lehigh.edu/~tansu/pdf/Tansu_CV.pdf, the subject
regularly reviewed papers for Applied Physics Letters and Journal of Applied
Physics. It is conjectured that the subject also coerced authors of the paper
he reviewed to cite his papers. This is more difficult to hunt down.
Citation manipulation
is as ancient as the process of provenance itself, and academicians shouldn’t
be stunned that incongruous citation behavior is occurring. Considering all
this valuable information, my study suggests that citation solicitation and coercion
by an individual is a phenomenon, and is a conundrum. This finding is backed up
by solid data from citations of the subject and in journals.
Coercive citation is
primarily targeting vulnerable younger researchers from Asian countries as
publishing in a journal is a critical consideration for an author. This behavior
is in order to have the greatest effect on the citation of an individual that
is opportunistic. This case study showed that an editor gained 160 citations
from just a single special issue in a journal.
This kind of comportment
is doing harm to science. I hope this research brings this unscrupulous
practice to radiance. If left unimpeded, it could distort our understanding of
scientific quality and research impact and, over many occasions, disquiet pronouncements
about tenure, promotion, awards and funding. Prominently, it is adding to the
difficulties faced by susceptible junior member of faculty who are trying to construct
a record for tenure.
How did he do it?
McDonald’s served its last hamburgers in Bolivia, after announcing a global restructuring plan in which it would close its doors in seven other countries with poor profit margins.
