Elsevier works with Wageningen University to detect and prevent citation manipulation

Description

Occasionally, adding citations to scientific articles during the peer-review process can contribute to improving the quality and integrity of research. For example, suggestions of additional citations by editors and reviewers may help authors avoid accusations of plagiarism, or give their paper more context. However, sometimes editors, reviewers or authors also add irrelevant citations, with the goal of increasing citations to certain researchers ("citation pushing") or to certain journals ("citation stacking"). Avoiding citation pushing is an acknowledged principle of good scientific research and has become part of scientific integrity guidelines, including the new Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Together, WUR and Elsevier have developed innovative analytical methods for detecting and preventing this form of scientific misconduct. The collaboration plays an important role in taking a quality-over-quantity approach to research output evaluation.