Self-Citation Policy

1. Introduction

The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. One important aspect of this commitment is the responsible handling of self-citation, both by authors and by the journal itself.

2. Definition

Self-citation refers to the practice of citing one’s own previously published work (author self-citation) or citing articles previously published in the same journal (journal self-citation).

3. Types of Self-Citation

Legitimate Self-Citation: Refers to citations that are scientifically relevant and necessary to support the current research, provide background, or build upon previous findings.

Excessive or Inappropriate Self-Citation: Refers to citations made without clear academic relevance, intended primarily to increase citation counts or journal metrics.

4. Journal Policy

The proportion of author self-citations in any submitted manuscript should not exceed 4% of the total references, unless scientifically justified.

Editors and reviewers must not request authors to add citations to their own work or to the journal unless such citations are clearly relevant and necessary to the content of the manuscript.

The journal reserves the right to analyze and monitor self-citation rates using indexing and detection tools (e.g., CrossRef, Scopus, or similar).

Manuscripts found to contain excessive or unjustified self-citations may be subject to revision requests, or in severe cases, rejection.

The editorial team monitors journal self-citation rates to ensure they remain within acceptable international standards.

5. Author Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that all citations are directly relevant and serve a genuine academic purpose.

Self-citations should be used only when necessary for continuity of research or clarification of previous findings.

Authors are expected to comply with recognized standards of research integrity, including those of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and Elsevier Publishing Ethics.

6. Implementation and Review

This policy applies to all manuscripts submitted to the journal from the date of adoption. The policy will be reviewed periodically and updated as needed to align with evolving best practices in scholarly publishing