Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Chia-Lin Chang
Author-Email: changchialin@nchu.edu.tw
Author-Person: pch286 
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Applied Economics, Department of Finance, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan.
Author-Name: Michael McAleer
Author-Person: pmc90 
Author-Workplace-Name: Econometric Institute, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute, The 
	Netherlands, Department of Quantitative Economics, Complutense University of Madrid, and Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto 
	University.
Title: Quality Weighted Citations Versus Total Citations in the Sciences and Social Sciences, with an Application to Finance and 
	Accounting
Abstract: The premise underlying the use of citations data is that higher quality journals generally have a higher number of citations. 
	The impact of citations can be distorted in a number of ways. Journals can, and do, inflate the number of citations through self 
	citation practices, which may be coercive. Another method for distorting journal impact is through a set of journals agreeing to 
	cite each other, that is, by exchanging citations. This may be less coercive than self citations, but is nonetheless 
	unprofessional and distortionary. Both journal self citations and exchanged citations have the effect of increasing a journal’s 
	impact factor, which may be deceptive. The paper analyses academic journal quality and research impact using quality weighted 
	citations versus total citations, based on the widely-used Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science citations database (ISI). A new 
	Index of Citations Quality (ICQ) is presented, based on quality weighted citations. The new index is used to analyse the leading 
	500 journals in both the Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as 58 leading journals in Finance and Accounting, using 
	quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs) that are based on alternative transformations of citations. It is shown that 
	ICQ is a useful additional measure to 2YIF and other well known RAMs for the purpose of evaluating the impact and quality, as 
	well as ranking, of journals as it contains information that has very low correlations with the information contained in the 
	well known RAMs for both the Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as in Finance and Accounting.
Classification-JEL: C18, C81, Y10.

Keywords: Research assessment measures, Impact factors, Eigenfactor, Article Influence, Quality weighted citations, Total citations, 
	Index of citations quality, Journal rankings, Self citations, Coercive citations, Exchanged citations.

Note: The authors are most grateful to the Guest Editor, Kam C. (Johnny) Chan, and a referee for very helpful comments and suggestions, 
	and to Essie Maasoumi and Peter Phillips for illuminating discussions. For financial support, the first author wishes to thank 
	the National Science Council, Taiwan, and the second author acknowledges the Australian Research Council and the National Science 
	Council, Taiwan.

Length: 64 pages
Revision-Date: 2015-01 
Number: 2015-01 
X-File-Ref: http://america.sim.ucm.es/repec/ucm/ref/doicae1501.txt
File-URL: https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/27929/1/1501.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:ucm:doicae:1501