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{"id":30079,"date":"2020-08-28T21:15:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T15:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=30079"},"modified":"2020-09-04T16:12:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T10:12:03","slug":"journals-suppressed-in-the-journal-citation-reports-fight-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/journals-suppressed-in-the-journal-citation-reports-fight-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarivate\u2019s 2020 Journal Citation Report: \u201cSuppressed\u201d Journals Fight Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How can researchers identify the best journal to publish their work? There are many possible answers to this question. However, one common criterion for choosing a journal is the impact factor. Every year, <a href=\"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/webofsciencegroup\/article\/the-2020-journal-citation-reports-helping-you-make-better-informed-decisions-with-confidence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">Clarivate publishes its Journal Citation Reports<\/a>. These reports cover a wealth of data on more than 12,000 journals from around the world. For each journal, listed data includes total papers, total citations, an Immediacy Index and, of course, the renowned Journal Impact Factor (JIF). &#8220;Suppressed&#8221; journals formed one of the key highlights of this year&#8217;s report.<\/p>\n<div id=\"om-e3yged1krascscrlvupr-holder\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.opmnstr.com\/app\/js\/api.min.js\" data-campaign=\"e3yged1krascscrlvupr\" data-user=\"41855\" async><\/script>\t<\/p>\n<p>The 2020 Clarivate Journal Citation Report takes a slightly different approach to that of previous years. This time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/journal-citation-reports-clarivate-analytics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Report has an important focus on control of self-citation<\/a> and citation stacking, as well as other forms of anomalous citation behavior. Self-citation can refer to when researchers reference either their own previously published work, or other papers within the same journal. Although sometimes necessary, excessive self-citation can artificially boost the profile of both researchers and journals. Citation stacking is when there is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiley.com\/network\/archive\/anomalous-citation-patterns-in-the-world-of-citation-metrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">an anomalous exchange of citations<\/a> between two or more journals \u2013 it can potentially be used to inflate a journal\u2019s impact factor without relying on self-citation.<\/p>\n<p>Controversially, Clarivate\u2019s rules on anomalous citation led to 33 journals (0.27% of the total) being suppressed in the 2020 report.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Clarivate Analytics \u201cSuppressed\u201d 33 Journals ?<\/h2>\n<p>According to Clarivate, the 33 &#8220;suppressed&#8221;\u00a0(or, to put it another way, excluded) journals in 2020 showed evidence of anomalous citation practices. This might include excessive self-citation and citation stacking. These practices\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/in\/news-releases\/clarivate-releases-web-of-science-journal-citation-reports-to-identify-the-world-s-leading-journals-824962568.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were identified by the numerous parameters<\/a> that Clarivate uses to monitor journal self-citation.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Clarivate issued an Editorial Expression of Concern for a further 15 journals, each of which had one or more published items with an abnormally high-value contribution to the JIF. Clarivate intends to continue to review this type of content, to better identify attempts to manipulate or distort the JIF.<\/p>\n<p>By excluding journals that appear to be attempting to boost their JIF, Clarivate hopes to maintain the long-held trust of the scientific community in their work.<\/p>\n<h2>The Suppressed Journals Fight Back<\/h2>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, the editors of the suppressed journals are unhappy with Clarivate\u2019s decision. A number of these journals<a href=\"https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2020\/07\/13\/stunned-very-confused-two-more-journals-push-back-against-impact-factor-suppression\/#:~:text=My%20Tweets-,%E2%80%9CStunned%2C%20very%20confused%E2%80%9D%3A%20Two%20more%20journals%20push%20back,or%20wrongly%20consider%20career%2Dmaking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> have now issued statements defending themselves<\/a>, and expressing their surprise and dismay.<\/p>\n<h3>Journal <em>Body Image<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>One of the suppressed journals is <em>Body Image<\/em>, part of the well-known Elsevier group. In a letter to their board, the editor-in-chief of <em>Body Image<\/em> and a number of editorial staff members expressed their surprise and confusion on this decision. In reference to anomalous citation practices, the editors said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe share Clarivate\u2019s view that such practices are unethical, but completely reject any suggestion that we have engaged in gaming the journal\u2019s impact factor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The <em>Body Image<\/em> editors admitted that their self-citation figures appeared, at first glance, to be high. However, they argued that the data should be seen in the context of previous years:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhile these percentages, especially 2019, seem high and alarming, it is important to put them into perspective.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>According to the editors, a 50% self-citation rate (this year, <em>Body Image<\/em>\u2019s rate was 50.4%) would only require each article to have an average of four self-citations. A typical reference list can easily include 40-60 citations. The editors went further, in a direct attack on Clarivate, finding it unacceptable that &#8220;a private, for-profit company like Clarivate setting itself up as a self-appointed and unaccountable judge.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><em>International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology<\/em> (IJSEM)<\/h3>\n<p>Another such suppressed journal is\u00a0<em>International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology<\/em> (IJSEM). Tasha Mellins-Cohen, Director of Technology and Innovation at the Microbiology Society (the journal\u2019s publisher) wrote to Clarivate, stating:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cwe believe the suppression to be unreasonable and \u2026 request Clarivate reinstate IJSEM in the JCR as a matter of urgency.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>According to Mellins-Cohen, Clarivate\u2019s decision failed to consider the particular nature of the journal\u2019s field of research. Taxonomic papers are rarely cited by researchers in other fields, which necessarily leads to a high rate of self-citation: \u201cthe primary audience of IJSEM is &#8230; taxonomists, and these are the researchers citing IJSEM.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mellins-Cohen did admit that the editors of IJSEM had themselves spotted high self-citation in a few groups. In fact, according to her the editors had already taken steps to prevent this. Interestingly, Mellins-Cohen also mentioned that Clarivate\u2019s suppression of certain journals could adversely affect scientific progress in countries that place a particularly high value on the JIF. She said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cRemoving the Impact Factor of this well-respected journal with a high standard of taxonomic descriptions will create confusion, as in some countries (China notably), it is requested to publish in journals with an Impact Factor only. The risk of the present situation is that scientists from these countries will no longer submit their articles to IJSEM and the quality of taxonomic descriptions may decrease.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Clarivate\u2019s Response<\/h3>\n<p>So, what was Clarivate\u2019s response to the appeals of suppressed journals? A Clarivate spokesperson said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe acknowledge that in exceptional circumstances there may be compelling editorial reasons for an atypical level of journal self-citation. In such cases we will liaise with the publisher to resolve any appeal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Suppression of Journals: Who\u2019s Right?<\/h2>\n<p>Suppressing certain journals, and thus denying these publications the benefit of a JIF, is clearly a controversial issue. Clarivate must now carefully balance the need to be fair to each individual journal. The challenge is to do this while maintaining trust in both its own systems and the scientific publication process.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, Clarivate\u2019s methods for identifying anomalous citation practices are both necessary and robust. In 2020, it is more important than ever that scientists and the wider community can place their trust in published science. Finding and preventing practices such as excessive self-citation is an important part of this. At the same time, however, Clarivate must have a clear appeal process for suppressed journals. As in the case of IJSEM, some highly specialist journals may have valid reasons for a high level of self-citation. It is important that the valuable work in these journals should not suffer due to an error by Clarivate.<\/p>\n<p>What is your opinion of Clarivate\u2019s decision to suppress certain journals? Do you think the suppressed journals should be reinstated? Share your thoughts in the comments below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" data-post_type=\"post\" data-cat=\"industry-news,publishing-hot-topics\" data-modified=\"120\" data-title=\"Clarivate\u2019s 2020 Journal Citation Report: \u201cSuppressed\u201d Journals Fight Back\" data-home=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\"><\/div><div style=\"display:flex; gap:10px;justify-content:\" class=\"wps-pgfw-pdf-generate-icon__wrapper-frontend\">\n\t\t<a  href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30079?action=genpdf&amp;id=30079\" class=\"pgfw-single-pdf-download-button\" ><img data-src=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-generator-for-wp\/admin\/src\/images\/PDF_Tray.svg\" title=\"Generate PDF\" style=\"width:auto; height:45px;\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can researchers identify the best journal to publish their work? There are many possible&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":30081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757,758],"tags":[268],"ppma_author":[1895],"class_list":["post-30079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","category-publishing-hot-topics","tag-journal-citation-reports"],"better_featured_image":{"id":30081,"alt_text":"\"Suppressed\"journals","caption":"","description":"Among the key highlights of this year's Journal Citation Reports, \"suppressed\" journals formed one. With 33 journals being \"suppressed\" or excluded on the grounds of citation stacki and self-citations, the journals were forced to go through the scanner. What do these journals say in their defense?","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":750,"height":430,"hwstring_small":"height='73' 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The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30079"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=30079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}