Huntsville, AL, USA. Some of the editors at professional journals coerce authors into adding unnecessary citations to articles in the same journal that is considering publishing the submitted work.

The effect is to frequency of citation in their journals, raising the journal rankings used to support claims of prestige and importance.


Allen W. Wilhite, PhD, and Eric A. Fong, PhD, from the College of Business at the University of Alabama, conducted an investigation of the issue as a problem in research ethics. Their results appear in the journal Science. The extent of such unethical practices by some journal publications surprised the authors. "When we first learned about coercion we were stunned, but after asking around we found that several people were aware of this behavior." said Dr. Wilhite, "At that point we decided to look into the extent and consequences of the practice."



Photo courtesy of Chrystal Morgan.

Allen W. Wilhite and Eric A. Fong, professors at the UAHuntsville.Wilhite and Fong analyzed 6,672 responses from a survey that was sent to researchers in the fields of business, economics, psychology, and sociology. According to their survey, many journal editors engage coercive practices that require authors to add citations to the journal that is considering publication of the work. They do this without

1. indicating that the article was actually deficient in attribution,
   
2. suggesting particular articles, authors, or bodies of work, or
   
3. guiding authors to add citations from the other journals.

Furthermore, many journal editors appear to avoid full professors, targeting the lower ranking assistant and associate professors, figuring they may be more willing to add the unnecessary citations. They also found that while the majority of authors disapprove of the practice, most acquiesce and add citations when coerced.

"This type of behavior hurts all of academia," said Dr. Fong, " and affects the integrity of academic publications".

"We hope this research brings this unethical practice to light. If left unchecked, it could distort our understanding of journal quality and research impact and, over time, influence decisions about tenure, promotion, awards and funding. Importantly, it is adding to the pressures faced by vulnerable junior faculty who are trying to build a record for tenure" said Dr. Caron St. John, Dean of UAHuntsville's College of Business.

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