A Review of the State of the Art of Self-Citations

As important measures, citations must reflect the quality of the scientific research and the impact factor of a certain journal can be influence by some highly cited papers. Citations make the work of a scientist recognized by the colleagues, determining the property rights and the prioritization of the scientific contribution of an author. The point is that there is no penalty for the excessive number of self-citations. There has been lengthy and intense discussion among the scientific community about the role of self-citations. Thus, caution is indicated before adopting them as indicators of the scientific impact. In the present exploratory study, aspects related to citations are addressed, especially self-citations and their influence on bibliometrics. There is the need of deeper reflection to extend the discussion about the use of self-citations and their consequences on the impact factor, since the latter is an important indicator of the quality of scientific production.