Citation Cartels: A Hidden Menace in the Scientific Publication

Dear Editor, We read with interest the succinct review entitled "Ethics in publication" that described in detail, various aspects of unethical practices prevalent in the contemporary scientific publishing.[1] Plagiarism, author disputes, and conflicts of interest are well-known issues that mar the research integrity. One of the key but relatively underappreciated elements is citation-related issues. Self-citation was one aspect that was touched upon within the article. There is another emerging issue related to the citation-related malpractice that needs wider recognition and constant discussion. Our letter may hence serve as a corollary to the above article. The "citation cartels" consist of crony authors citing each other vociferously and sometimes without reasonable relevance.[2] Citation of articles has been considered one of many indicators of the quality of the publication, though not an absolute one. In a rat race to gain citation milestones, few instances of unethical indulgence in unfair practices to increase the citation number among the members of a close group can be observed on deeper inspection.[3] Disproportionate citation, mostly reciprocal or "quid pro quo," is the by-product and an abominable behavior. These practices not only disrupt scientific integrity but also affect various indices of scientific quality of papers or journals. The menace needs to be identified by journals through various relevant software or programming.[3,4] The use of algorithms may help journals identify "citation cartel behavior." One of the programs called CIDRE was described to identify anomalous groups of journals engaged in disproportionate citation behavior.[5] There have been instances of several journals banned or dropped by few notable journal agencies for being involved in citation stacking. The difficulty to detect these cartels and problems in differentiating genuine citations from the rigged ones calls for innovative approaches and collaborative efforts. As there needs to have an evidence-backed fact, before accusation without certainty of intent, it has been proposed to use the term "citation stacking" in place of citation cartels for better connotation.[6] Many academic vigilantes often highlight the importance of this seemingly uncommon malpractice, but its widespread recognition is still not up to the mark. Besides that, many shoddy journals do not gather attention and a larger footprint may remain unexplored by scientific community. In the world of social connectivity and the Internet, attempt to identify and educate regarding these gangs can be a stepping stone. In future, we certainly hope to find clever solutions and tools to recognize these relatively unknown but harmful practices for a transparent scientific milieu. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.