The document discusses the frequency and implications of citation tracking in academic research, highlighting the importance of citation counts for research evaluation and promotion. It addresses potential abuses of citation metrics, such as self-citations and manipulation strategies, while emphasizing the need for caution in their use. The text also presents specific examples of researchers who have exhibited high citation counts and the ethical concerns surrounding citation practices.

1. Citation
Use and Abuse
Malibu Rohwani

2. "Not everything
that can be counted counts,
and not everything
that counts can be counted."
Albert Einstein

3. Overview
 Context - research /research evalution
 The power of citation tracking for your research
 Use and Abuse

4. What are we counting?
 Number of papers per individual
 Total number of citations, and cites per
paper

5.  World University rankings

6. Citations: use
Individual assessment (promotion and
tenure)
UCD: Selection criteria, senior lecturer post
◦ PhD completed in the area of Quantitative Finance or a
cognate area.
◦ Strong, demonstrable, commitment to research
and publication in their chosen field
◦ Strong, demonstrable, commitment to teaching
◦ Ability to communicate both technical and non-technical
material effectively in the classroom.
◦ Good international research network
◦ A number of publications in ranking journals
◦ Excellent administrative skills

7. Citations: use
Individual assessment, promotion etc
Senior Lecturer (DCU)
◦ Refereed publications
◦ Impact of publication on the discipline (citation
indexes)
Associate Professor (DCU)
 Excellence in Research & Scholarship
◦ Substantial number of articles in leading
refereed journals and international journals

8. Grant Funding
SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant
 The applicant must demonstrate a proven
record of internationally recognised
independent research accomplishments. The
applicant must be senior author (first, last or
corresponding) on at least 3 articles in
international peer-reviewed publications AND
be a named author on an average of at
least 1 international peer-reviewed
publication per year since the award of the
PhD (or equivalent).

9. Citations
 Use with caution!
 Do have shortcomings which will be
highlighted throughout this presentation
…..

10. Citation Tracking /
Searching
Citation tracking allows you to:
 Find out how many times a paper
has been cited
 Search backwards and forwards
in time to see how ideas develop
 Find the most highly cited papers
in your field
 Identify key researchers and
institutions by their citation
counts

11. Citation Tracking /
Searching
Collating this info is difficult
and not all databases or
websites do it
 Web of Science
 Scopus
 Google Scholar / Publish or
Perish

12. Research impact of individuals
Using Web of Science you can find out
an individual’s:
- top cited work
- what journals they have published in
- who is citing them
- their H-index

13. H-Index
 Developed by Hirsh in 2005:
"An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
102(46):16569-16572, November 15, 2005
www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/102/46/16569
 Means to evaluate research output
 Based on number or publications and
the number of citations per publication
 For example, an h-index of 10 means
that there are 10 published papers that
have 10 citations or more

14. Research impact of
individuals: Example
 Charles K Kao, Nobel Laureate for
Physics, 2009
◦ "Father of Fiber Optic Communications"
Lets search Web of Science for Kao CK
 What are his key works?
 Where has he published?
 What fields have been citing him?
 What’s his H-Index?

15. H-Index
Some high ranking physicists:
Martin Cohen, Berkeley 94
Philip Anderson, Princeton 91
Edward Witten, Princeton
110 (world’s highest)
But…
Charles K Kao (Nobel laureate,
physics, 2009) 6
Why? Mainly published in EE conferences,
monographs and patents.

16. H-Index
Mohamed El Naschie has an impressive H-Index of 33.
But why? Check his citations in Web of Science
Search for El Naschie M*
Further info: Schiermeier, Q. 2008. Self-publishing editor set to
retire. Nature. 456 (7221), pp432.

18. Use and Abuse
 Potential for manipulation
◦ Self-citations
◦ Strategy to improve one’s citations and H-
index

19. H-Index
 A scientist may artificially increase his/her
H-index by
 (1) Self citation
 (2) Double Publications
 (3) Conference papers
 (4) Citation club
 (5) Coercive citation

20. Self citations
 Thomson Reuters considers self-citation
beyond 20% as suspect of abuse
 Famous people:
 El-Naschie: 50%
 Nelson Tansu: 55%

21. Self citations

22. 19 self citations
Out of 24
references

23. Duplicate Publications

24. SPIE Conferences
World highest?
40 self citations
Out of 49 references

25. SPIE Conferences

26. SPIE Conferences
 Novel approaches for high-efficiency InGaN quantum wells light-emitting diodes: Device physics and epitaxy engineering Tansu,
N., Zhao, H., Zhang, J., Liu, G., Li, X.-H., Ee, Y.-K., Song, R., Huang, G.S. 2011 Proceedings of SPIE - The International
Society for Optical Engineering 7954, art. no. 795418
 This paper has 40 self references to Tansu
 Zhang, J., Zhao, H., Tansu, N. 2011 Gain characteristics of deep UV AlGaN quantum wells lasers
 Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 7953, art. no. 79530H
 This paper has 27 self references to Tansu
 Enhancement of light extraction efficiency of InGaN quantum wells light-emitting diodes using TiO2 microsphere arrays Li, X.-H.,
Ee, Y.-K., Song, R., Tansu, N. 2011 Proceedings of SPIE - The
 International Society for Optical Engineering 7954, art. no. 79540U
 This paper has 27 self references to Tansu
Thermoelectric properties of MOCVD-grown AlInN alloys with various compositions Zhang, J.,Tong, H., Liu, G., Herbsommer, J.A.,
Huang, G.S., Tansu, N. 2011 Proceedings of SPIE - TheInternational Society for Optical Engineering 7939, art. no. 79390O
 This paper has 27 self references to Tansu
 Cathodoluminescence characteristics of linearly shaped staggered InGaN quantum wells light-emitting diodes Zhao, H., Zhang, J.,
Liu, G., Toma, T., Poplawsky, J.D., Dierolf, V., Tansu, N.2011 Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical
Engineering 7939, art. no.793905
 This paper has 27 self references to Tansu
 Analysis of thermoelectric properties of AlInN semiconductor alloys Zhang, J., Tong, H.,Herbsommer, J.A., Tansu, N. 2011
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for OpticalEngineering 7933, art. no. 79330X
 This paper has 28 self references to Tansu
 176 self citations from 6 papers in a single SPIE Conference

27. Citation Club
 Of the 31 papers not written by El Naschie in a issue
of Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, at least 11 are
related to his theories and include 58 citations of his
work in the journal.
 Ji-Huan He, the journal's regional editor for China,
also cites El Naschie's work frequently.
 An issue of the journal has one paper by He that cites
himself 14 times and El Naschie twice.
 He is also editor of the International Journal of
Nonlinear Sciences and Numerical Simulation, which
in a 2005 editorial said: "Men of genius like Einstein
and Elnaschie very often ask some straightforward
and seemingly innocent questions, which may turn
out to have undreamed of answers."

28. Coercive Citations
 Becoming editor or guest editor of a
journal
 “you cite my article only once in your 40
references. Consequently, I kindly ask you
to add references of my articles to your
present article”.

29. Guest Editor
 IEEE OSA Journal of Display Technology
 Special Issue Volume 9, Issue 4 (April
2013).
 Recent advances in solid state lighting
 Guest Editor: Nelson Tansu

30. Some papers
 Effects of H2 in GaN barrier spacer layer of InGaN/GaN multiple
quantum-well light-emitting diodes. Lai, W.-C., Yang, Y.-Y. 2013
 10 citations to Tansu
 Investigating the effect of piezoelectric polarization on GaN-based
LEDs with different quantum barrier thickness. Wang, C.K.,
Chiang, T.H., Chen, K.Y., Chiou, Y.Z., Lin, T.K., Chang, S.P., Chang,
S.J.
 9 citations to Tansu
 Lateral current spreading effect on the efficiency droop in GaN
based light-emitting diodes. Huang, S., Fan, B., Chen, Z., Zheng,
Z., Luo, H., Wu, Z., Wang, G., Jiang, H.
 8 citations to Tansu
 Effect of polarization-matched n-type AlGaInN electron-blocking
layer on the optoelectronic properties of blue InGaN light-emitting
diodes. Li, Y., Gao, Y., He, M., Zhou, J., Lei, Y., Zhang, L., Zhu, K.,
Chen, Y.
 11 citations to Tansu

31. Special Issue
 All 17 papers have 6-10 citations to
Tansu, and all papers are from China,
Taiwan and Singapore
 A single special issue = 160 citations to
Tansu

32. Conclusions
 No single ‘perfect’ JIF
 Objective tools have a role and can
contribute to the evaluation of research
quality when used appropriately – must
be aware of their limitations!
 Abuse through self citations
 Ongoing debate….

33. SOCIAL MEDIA
 Share your
 findings…
 And get cited