Journal editors report having come under pressure to increase the Journal Impact Factor of their publication. Unfortunately, this has spawned a range of questionable editorial practices designed to game the system, including adding multiple citations to the journal in journal editorials, increasing self-citation within the journal by pressurising authors, creating publication rings of self-citation practices between a small number of allied journals, queuing articles online for up to two years before hard publication. In a substantial and welcome editorial piece, Research Policy analyses these trends and argues that in compromising their own integrity editors are forfeiting their authority over other forms of research misconduct.

Martin, B. (2016) Editorial: Editors’ JIF-boosting stratagems – Which are appropriate and which not? Research Policy 45, 1–7.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733315001390
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