Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: LUIZ GABRIEL CORREIA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LUIZ GABRIEL CORREIA
DATE: 11/12/2023
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Remoto, via GoogleMeet https://meet.google.com/ckq-uymh-kbw
TITLE:

The influence of self-citations on the Impact Factor: an analysis based on the simulation of academic social networks

PAGES: 82
BIG AREA: Ciências Exatas e da Terra
AREA: Ciência da Computação
SUBÁREA: Metodologia e Técnicas da Computação
SUMMARY:

The evaluation of scientific research often uses metrics derived from academic social networks, such as the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), a metric based on citation networks. However, the growing use of the JIF as an indicator of academic prestige has generated pressure to publish in high-impact journals and strong competition between journals, leading to questionable practices. Strategies that increase the number of self-citations in journals, such as the publication of review articles and editorials, have been identified as ways of manipulating the JIF. Previous studies have suggested excluding self-citations as a policy to discourage manipulation.

In this context, this work uses agent-based modeling to investigate the impact of the self-citation removal policy proposed in the literature. We model editorial decisions and manipulation mechanisms as a zero-sum game, where journals are treated as rational agents seeking to gain positions in the JIF ranking. We developed a model in NetLogo to simulate the academic production of articles and journals, generating academic social networks based on scale-free network distribution patterns seen in the literature. The model was validated with patterns obtained from SCIMago ranking data. We carried out experiments with the simulation of scenarios with and without the implementation of the self-citation removal policy. Both scenarios were compared with a statistical analysis.

The results showed a strong association between the self-citation exclusion policy and the reduction of manipulative journals in the ranking. However, effects may vary between disciplines. Preliminary results indicate that this policy is effective, showing that the removal of self-citations can significantly reduce the adoption of manipulation strategies (e.g., reduction from 90% to 30%).
This study contributes to understanding the impact of JIF calculation policies on the integrity of scientific research and provides tools to improve academic assessment practices.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - Interno ao Programa - 1934625 - JESUS PASCUAL MENA CHALCO
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - Vinícius Medina Kern - UFSC
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - DIANA FRANCISCA ADAMATTI - FURG
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo ao Programa - 2364326 - ALEXANDRE DONIZETI ALVES
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - FABIO CASTRO GOUVEIA - FIOCRUZ - RJ