Journal self-citation study for semiconductor literature: synchronous and diachronous approach

The present study investigates the self-citations of the most productive semiconductor journals by synchronous (self-citing rate) and diachronous (self-cited rate) approaches. Journal's productivity of 100 most productive semiconductor journals was gathered from INSPEC database, 1978-1997 through OVID. Data of citation frequency were obtained from the Science Citation Index (SCI), Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2001 CDROM edition by the title-by-title search. The self-citing and self-cited data were drawn from the Citing Journal Listing and the Cited Journal Listing of the JCR CDROM version 1990-2001. Self-citing and self-cited rates were determined by the method suggested by the JCR. Eighty-seven journals common to INSPEC and JCR in semiconductor were selected as the object of this study and were listed for statistical tests. The results of the present study demonstrate that high self-citing journals are usually older than low self-citing journals. In contrast to the self-citing data, the journal self-cited rate is not closely related to the publication year but reflects the characteristics of various journals. Journals with a short time interval of publication are more possible with high self-citing and self-cited rates. Journals with higher self-citing rate tend to be more productive and receive more citation than journals with lower self-citing rate. The journal self-cited rate has no association with the number of articles that a journal published and the citation it received. A journal with a higher self-citing rate tends to be cited more by itself. The mean self-citing rate is 9.59% and the mean self-cited rate is 15.03%. There is a significant difference between self-citing and self-cited rates within the same set of journals.