Do US Scientists Overcite Papers from their Own Country?

Abstract

Chapter 24 24.1 Introduction In the debate on the validity of citation analysis in research evaluation, national biases in scientists’ reference practices, and particularly national self-preoccupation constitute an important issue. For instance, Seglen claimed that “national bias in reference selection favours North American journals” (Seglen, 1997a). Moed et al. (1983) concluded from interviews that “it is possible that publication and citation practices of US scientists differ from the habits of their European colleagues”. In an analysis of citation impact by country, King (2004) stated that “… anecdotal evidence suggests that preferential US citing of US papers may distort the analyses, given the sheer size of the US contribution. It is possible that Japan and Russia, being more scientifically isolated than the other major players, suffer particularly in this respect” (p. 312).