CiteScore: risk of copy-cat, fake and misleading metrics
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CiteScore: risk of copy‑cat, fake and misleading metrics Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva1 Received: 28 October 2020 / Accepted: 10 November 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract The Elsevier (Scopus) CiteScore is an increasingly popular journal-based metric (JBM) that is rapidly gaining popularity over its once decades-dominant JBM, Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF). CiteScore, which is currently assigned to over 41,000 Scopus-indexed journals or other sources, faces a risk that does not seem to have yet been discussed, namely its “hijacking” to create a copy-cat or misleading metric. The JIF is already famously suffering this phenomenon in “predatory” open access publishing, but predators in the realm of academic publishing are constantly seeking ways to expand their “prey” base, i.e., authors. The use of fake metrics, or copy-cat metrics, that give the impression of a famed JBM or other metric, like the JIF or CiteScore, are created in an attempt to lure unsuspecting academics—who might erroneously associate a metric as a “quality” parameter—to their journals. It would not be surprising to see the emergence of copy-cat CiteScore-like metrics emerging. Academics, editors and publishers need to be vigilant. Keywords Citations · Journal-based metric · Journal Impact Factor (JIF) · Market risk · Scopus · Transparency Dear Scientometrics Editors, The rapid rise of the Elsevier (Scopus) journal-based metric (JBM), CiteScore,1 between the end of 2016 and 2020, is both fascinating and astonishing (Teixeira da Silva 2020). One of the “attractive” features of this metric is that it is easy to use and freely available, unlike its market competitor, Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Since the JIF and CiteScore are strongly correlated (James et al. 2019; Okagbue and Teixeira da Silva 2020), the free latter JBM alternative will likely overtake the pay-to-access proprietary former JBM, and maybe even become the leading JBM. Perhaps an equally “attractive” feature of CiteScore is that it is assigned to journals that are indexed in Scopus, but that do not necessarily have a JIF.2 Such journals, whose “academic” profile is already boosted by 1
https://www.scopus.com/sources (last accessed: October 26, 2020). As one example, the OA journal, Physics & Imaging in Radiation Oncology: https://www.journals.elsev ier.com/physics-and-imaging-in-radiation-oncology/news/new-citescore-2019. Last accessed: 26 Oct 2020.
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* Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva [email protected] 1
Independent researcher, Miki‑cho Post Office, Ikenobe 3011‑2, P. O. Box 7, Kagawa‑ken 761‑0799, Japan
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being indexed on Scopus, a powerful search engine and database, will be further fortified by having a “famed” JBM like CiteScore, making the need for the JBM market leader, JIF, redundant. CiteScore branding is already paying dividends (Meho 2019), especially for open access (OA) journals (Wei 2020). One of the risks is that unscholarly or “predatory” journals, OA or no
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