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Lets say I have published paper A in a journal.

I am now ready to submit a new paper, paper B.

Paper A is cited in Paper B.

Since B is related to A, I will probably submit it to the same journal. Would this help the journal's metrics?

Or, lets say paper A currently has no citations. Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?

The reason I ask is that it seems like a single person could tackle an area of research that nobody else cares about, submit paper after paper to the same journal, and achieve a paper-to-citation ratio near 1:1 (is that good?).

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    why was this downvoted? I have honest questions.
    – Forever Mozart
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 4:19
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    I upvote the question because it is a common dilemma amongst young researchers as the Or part asks: "lets say paper A currently has no citations. Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?"
    – Coder
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 4:39
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    Some metrics specifically account for self-citation distortions by offering stats with and without self-citations included. This can be useful for at least two reasons I can think of: (1) a common tactic by less reputable scholars is to facetiously and needlessly cite themselves or their friends, so metrics that exclude self-citations help remove the incentives to try to game the metric in question; (2) it offers some information on whether the material in question is "of general/active interest" or only of rather specific interest to a few specialists, which some journals care about.
    – zibadawa timmy
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 7:05
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    Many people on this site dislike bibliometrics. The down votes could be the expression of their frustration.
    – Cape Code
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 9:36
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    You shouldn't help a journal improve its impact factor. For impact factors (or any other metric) to be a useful guide for prospective authors or readers, the impact factor has to be earned by the journal on merit, not as a quid pro quo for accepting your paper. "Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?" if that is considered by the journal, it is not a journal you should consider! I've been asked by journal editors to add citations to their journal in accepted papers, which is not something that should happen, and my opinion of the quality of the journal was adjusted accordingly.
    – Dikran Marsupial
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 11:01

2 Answers 2

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Since B is related to A, I will probably submit it to the same journal. Would this help the journal's metrics?

I fail to see the connection. One paper having one more citation is irrelevant to journal metrics (eigenfactor excludes self-citation, while JCR does not, if I'm not mistaken). Also, I'd expect that papers published in a particular journal would include citations to lots of papers on the same journal.

Or, lets say paper A currently has no citations. Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?

Very likely, no. I don't see as costumary for a referee to look at citation record of cited papers. But, if A is not being cited, maybe that's indicative that this research is not suitable to this journal.

... achieve a paper-to-citation ratio near 1:1 (is that good?)

No. Especially if it's a self citation.

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Quoting Wikipedia, "In any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the number of citations received in that year by articles published in that journal during the two preceding years, divided by the total number of articles published in that journal during the two preceding years".

Accordingly, self-citations (by an author, by a journal, or by both simultaneously) are not excluded in the main metric. It is true that in some cases self-citations are discarded (for instance when comparing journals or manuscripts), but it would be ludicrous to exclude, for instance, the New England Journal of Medicine self-citations, and this applies to all reasonably good journals, whose ranking remains stable excluding them:

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Regarding your questions:

Impact Since B is related to A, I will probably submit it to the same journal. Would this help the journal's metrics?

Yes, it is common practice among researchers and journals.

Lets say paper A currently has no citations. Would they be reluctant to accept paper B (quoting A)?

No, as long as the citation is appropriate.

Also consider that a citation increases the likelihood of your article A being looked afterwards by other researchers and quoted subsequently, and that an overlooked article can always become a sleeper hit.

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