Article published In: Questionable Research Practices in Applied Linguistics
Edited by Luke Plonsky
[Journal of Second Language Studies 8:2] 2025
► pp. 244–263
An exploratory systematic review of self-citations in the top-tier journals of applied linguistics
Published online: 1 December 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.24024.zol
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.24024.zol
Abstract
The focus on ensuring quality control measures and ethics is gaining more and more prominence in the field of applied linguistics; and in this avenue, researchers are examining Questionable Research Practices (QRPs). In this study, we set out to examine self-citations within QRPs as a form of self-promotion that may unjustifiably boost the scientometrics of academics and may lead to unfair advantages. To this end, we created a database of recent open-access articles from the last five years (2019–2023) published in the five leading journals in applied linguistics (k = 359). Our findings suggest that there is a high extent of self-citations, and there are significant differences in the total counts of self-citations in the selected journals. Based on the COPE Council. COPE discussion document: Citation manipulation. July 2019. guidelines, the range of excessive self-citations is relatively high in the selected journals. Policy is needed to be included in author guidelines regarding what excessive self-citation means.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Self-citations
- Questionable research practices
- Research methods
- Data collection and analysis
- Results
- Concluding discussion
References
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