Abstract
The Elsevier (Scopus) CiteScore is an increasingly popular journal-based metric (JBM) that is rapidly gaining popularity over its once decades-dominant JBM, Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF). CiteScore, which is currently assigned to over 41,000 Scopus-indexed journals or other sources, faces a risk that does not seem to have yet been discussed, namely its “hijacking” to create a copy-cat or misleading metric. The JIF is already famously suffering this phenomenon in “predatory” open access publishing, but predators in the realm of academic publishing are constantly seeking ways to expand their “prey” base, i.e., authors. The use of fake metrics, or copy-cat metrics, that give the impression of a famed JBM or other metric, like the JIF or CiteScore, are created in an attempt to lure unsuspecting academics—who might erroneously associate a metric as a “quality” parameter—to their journals. It would not be surprising to see the emergence of copy-cat CiteScore-like metrics emerging. Academics, editors and publishers need to be vigilant.
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Notes
https://www.scopus.com/sources (last accessed: October 26, 2020).
As one example, the OA journal, Physics & Imaging in Radiation Oncology: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/physics-and-imaging-in-radiation-oncology/news/new-citescore-2019. Last accessed: 26 Oct 2020.
https://journalinsights.elsevier.com/journals/0959-6526/citescore; in the FAQ for CiteScore, Elsevier requests that textual citation of CiteScore be represented as CiteScore™: https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14880/supporthub/scopus/. Last accessed: 26 Oct 2020.
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Teixeira da Silva, J.A. CiteScore: risk of copy-cat, fake and misleading metrics. Scientometrics 126, 1859–1862 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03791-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03791-0