SELF-CITATIONS IN THE LIBRARY AND INFORMATION-SCIENCE LITERATURE

The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of self-citation in the library and information science literature. A sample of 1,058 articles was examined. 50% of the articles examined contained at least one self-citation. Articles that were reports of research, that were written by a faculty member, that addressed a theoretical topic, or that had multiple authors were all more likely to have to higher self-citation rates. The self-citation rate of 50% was higher than that reported in studies of self-citation rates in the sciences and social sciences. However, the percentage of self-citations as related to total citations of 6.6% falls between the percentage reported in the sciences and that reported in other social sciences.