Medical Journal of Indonesia Vol. 31 No. 1 2022 FKUI
Editorial Citation Analysis: A Key or A Trap?
Dublin Core
Title
Medical Journal of Indonesia Vol. 31 No. 1 2022 FKUI
Editorial Citation Analysis: A Key or A Trap?
Editorial Citation Analysis: A Key or A Trap?
Subject
Citation analysis
Description
Citation analysis is done by using a citation
index. Citation index is a bibliographic index which
offers timely and comprehensive database of the
published articles and was initially introduced in 1960
to help librarians select a journal.1,2 The journals which
indexed in popular database are more recognizable
in the scientific community. Initially, the citation
indexes are used to help the readers in searching
the related articles, but around decade ago, there
were abundant journals including predatory journals
and this indexes were used to filter "good" articles.
To be indexed, a journal should pass an assessment
and content requirement, including transparency
and publication ethics. This assessment is used to
avoid predatory journals included in the databases.
These improvements need a financial support, which
sometimes is difficult to achieve for a small journal.
The editorial board and administration team should
work together to overcome this situation. Many
alternatives can be done i.e., an established open-
access system to run a peer-review process and find
a grant or support from many authorities for journals
published by academic institutions.
As time goes by, the development of citation index
reserves big data for further analysis. The topic or
theme of popular science can be analyzed from these
databases.2
This can lead to which research focus should
be prioritized at a specific time and help the journal
publish more articles on similar topics to gain more
attention and citation from the scientists. However,
this can also be a “trap” for a developing journal that
focuses on a specific topic. Some popular topics might
not be an important burden for a regional journal, so it
is difficult to get good data for these topics. In fact, the
specific regional topic can impact global science, i.e., the
tropical disease can impact travel medicine worldwide.
Thus, editorial board should balance a popular topic
worldwide and specific important regional topic that
can impact worldwide or attract the reader.
The citation analysis from an indexing system
tends to evaluate the “impact” of an article, an author,
or a journal in the scientific community. Many citation
analyses have been developed to evaluate these
impacts, i.e., h-index, impact factor (IF), scientific
journal ranking, and particularly, SINTA score that
is used in Indonesia. Impact factor is one of citation
analysis to measure relatively the importance of a
journal on its topic.2
A higher journal impact factor (JIF)
is related to a higher importance of the journal. It also
becomes a “key” for a journal to be more recognizable
worldwide. All journals put an effort to achieve a higher
impact factor for this “prestige” position. However,
they should realize the limitation of this impact factor,
which can be a “trap” for a journal. This JIF is only
calculated the citation count, not based on who cites
the article. This limitation can be manipulated by an
inappropriate self-citation by authors or the journal.
Inappropriate and excessive self-citation is considered
a manipulation related to an ethical problem in
publication and should be avoided.3
We believe that
the only ethical way to increase JIF is to improve the
quality of the published articles. These high-quality
articles can attract other scientists to read and cite,
thus increasing the JIF. However, a small journal always
faces a dilemma of the submission of the low-quality
articles. A high rejection rate can lead to an insufficient
number of published articles. Editorial board should
work hard and smart to overcome this condition.
Balancing a sufficient number of the published articles
with the incremental improvement of the quality of the
published articles is an optimal outcome that should be
taken gradually. After the JIF increases, it will attract
more articles; then, the journal can have more high-
quality articles to be selected and published.
Nowadays, a cross using a citation index analysis still
occurs, i.e., the usage of JIF to evaluate the impact of the
articles, authors, or even universities. Furthermore, the
JIF has been used to decide a promotion and research
index. Citation index is a bibliographic index which
offers timely and comprehensive database of the
published articles and was initially introduced in 1960
to help librarians select a journal.1,2 The journals which
indexed in popular database are more recognizable
in the scientific community. Initially, the citation
indexes are used to help the readers in searching
the related articles, but around decade ago, there
were abundant journals including predatory journals
and this indexes were used to filter "good" articles.
To be indexed, a journal should pass an assessment
and content requirement, including transparency
and publication ethics. This assessment is used to
avoid predatory journals included in the databases.
These improvements need a financial support, which
sometimes is difficult to achieve for a small journal.
The editorial board and administration team should
work together to overcome this situation. Many
alternatives can be done i.e., an established open-
access system to run a peer-review process and find
a grant or support from many authorities for journals
published by academic institutions.
As time goes by, the development of citation index
reserves big data for further analysis. The topic or
theme of popular science can be analyzed from these
databases.2
This can lead to which research focus should
be prioritized at a specific time and help the journal
publish more articles on similar topics to gain more
attention and citation from the scientists. However,
this can also be a “trap” for a developing journal that
focuses on a specific topic. Some popular topics might
not be an important burden for a regional journal, so it
is difficult to get good data for these topics. In fact, the
specific regional topic can impact global science, i.e., the
tropical disease can impact travel medicine worldwide.
Thus, editorial board should balance a popular topic
worldwide and specific important regional topic that
can impact worldwide or attract the reader.
The citation analysis from an indexing system
tends to evaluate the “impact” of an article, an author,
or a journal in the scientific community. Many citation
analyses have been developed to evaluate these
impacts, i.e., h-index, impact factor (IF), scientific
journal ranking, and particularly, SINTA score that
is used in Indonesia. Impact factor is one of citation
analysis to measure relatively the importance of a
journal on its topic.2
A higher journal impact factor (JIF)
is related to a higher importance of the journal. It also
becomes a “key” for a journal to be more recognizable
worldwide. All journals put an effort to achieve a higher
impact factor for this “prestige” position. However,
they should realize the limitation of this impact factor,
which can be a “trap” for a journal. This JIF is only
calculated the citation count, not based on who cites
the article. This limitation can be manipulated by an
inappropriate self-citation by authors or the journal.
Inappropriate and excessive self-citation is considered
a manipulation related to an ethical problem in
publication and should be avoided.3
We believe that
the only ethical way to increase JIF is to improve the
quality of the published articles. These high-quality
articles can attract other scientists to read and cite,
thus increasing the JIF. However, a small journal always
faces a dilemma of the submission of the low-quality
articles. A high rejection rate can lead to an insufficient
number of published articles. Editorial board should
work hard and smart to overcome this condition.
Balancing a sufficient number of the published articles
with the incremental improvement of the quality of the
published articles is an optimal outcome that should be
taken gradually. After the JIF increases, it will attract
more articles; then, the journal can have more high-
quality articles to be selected and published.
Nowadays, a cross using a citation index analysis still
occurs, i.e., the usage of JIF to evaluate the impact of the
articles, authors, or even universities. Furthermore, the
JIF has been used to decide a promotion and research
Creator
Agus Rizal Ardy Hariandy Hamid
Date
tahun 2022
Contributor
peri irawan
Format
pdf
Language
english
Type
text
Files
Citation
Agus Rizal Ardy Hariandy Hamid, “Medical Journal of Indonesia Vol. 31 No. 1 2022 FKUI
Editorial Citation Analysis: A Key or A Trap?,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed February 5, 2025, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/1036.
Editorial Citation Analysis: A Key or A Trap?,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed February 5, 2025, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/1036.