Trends in self-citation rates in Neuroscience literature (original) (raw)

Citation metrics influence academic reputation and career trajectories. Recent works have highlighted flaws in citation practices in the Neurosciences, such as the under-citation of women. However, self-citation rates—or how much authors cite themselves—have not yet been comprehensively investigated in the Neurosciences. This work characterizes self-citation rates in basic, translational, and clinical Neuroscience literature by collating 157,001 articles from 63 journals between the years 2000-2020. In analyzing over eight million citations, we demonstrate four key findings: 1) since 2000, self-citation rates of Last Authors are increasing relative to those of First Authors, 2) the odds of “highly self-citing” articles from authors in the Americas are 2.65, 2.17, 1.35, and 1.43 times those of authors affiliated with Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, 3) men tend to cite themselves more than women early in their careers but less later in their careers, and 4) self-citation rates vary...