Journal self-citedness in Journal Citation Reports library and information science and genetics journal rankings

This research project, still in progress, investigates the effect of journal self-citedness on Journal Citation Reports rankings of library and information science and genetics journals using data from the 1994 JCR on CD-ROM. The original JCR rankings by impact factor and total citations were contrasted with recalculated rankings in which journal self-citations were eliminated, using three methods of comparison: Pearson Product Movement correlation, overlap among top-ranking journals, and a modification of the Mankin and Bastille approach for analyzing journal movement in rank. Results for library and information science indicate the effect of self-citedness on both JCR impact factor and total citation rankings was minimal, although notable differences in rank were observed for a few journals. The preliminary conclusion is that one can use JCR rankings without adjusting the data for journal self-citedness.