An examination of "citation circles" for social sciences journals in Eastern European countries

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of both journal self citations and mutual citations within a group of journals on the increase in the impact factors (IFs) for social sciences journals published in Eastern Europe. We found that the practice of mutual citations is prevalent among the new journals, a trend that raises questions about possible manipulation of the IF and potential isolation of the recent journals from the international network of scholarly communication. © 2013 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.