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Italy’s rise in research impact pinned on ‘citation doping’

Citation of Italian-authored papers by Italian researchers rose after the introduction of metrics-based thresholds for promotions.
  1. Richard Van Noorden
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Italy is climbing international rankings of research impact, but that doesn’t mean the country’s science has improved or become more influential. An analysis suggests the upward trend could be largely the result of Italian academics referencing each other’s articles more heavily to satisfy controversial management targets at universities.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02725-y

References

  1. Baccini, A., De Nicolao, G. & Petrovich, E. PLoS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221212 (2019).

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