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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04607 |
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| _version_ | 1866911772710010880 |
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| author | Ibrahim, Hazem Liu, Fengyuan Zaki, Yasir Rahwan, Talal |
| author_facet | Ibrahim, Hazem Liu, Fengyuan Zaki, Yasir Rahwan, Talal |
| contents | Citations are widely considered in scientists' evaluation. As such, scientists may be incentivized to inflate their citation counts. While previous literature has examined self-citations and citation cartels, it remains unclear whether scientists can purchase citations. Here, we compile a dataset of ~1.6 million profiles on Google Scholar to examine instances of citation fraud on the platform. We survey faculty at highly-ranked universities, and confirm that Google Scholar is widely used when evaluating scientists. Intrigued by a citation-boosting service that we unravelled during our investigation, we contacted the service while undercover as a fictional author, and managed to purchase 50 citations. These findings provide conclusive evidence that citations can be bought in bulk, and highlight the need to look beyond citation counts. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_04607 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Google Scholar is manipulatable Ibrahim, Hazem Liu, Fengyuan Zaki, Yasir Rahwan, Talal Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science Digital Libraries Social and Information Networks Physics and Society Citations are widely considered in scientists' evaluation. As such, scientists may be incentivized to inflate their citation counts. While previous literature has examined self-citations and citation cartels, it remains unclear whether scientists can purchase citations. Here, we compile a dataset of ~1.6 million profiles on Google Scholar to examine instances of citation fraud on the platform. We survey faculty at highly-ranked universities, and confirm that Google Scholar is widely used when evaluating scientists. Intrigued by a citation-boosting service that we unravelled during our investigation, we contacted the service while undercover as a fictional author, and managed to purchase 50 citations. These findings provide conclusive evidence that citations can be bought in bulk, and highlight the need to look beyond citation counts. |
| title | Google Scholar is manipulatable |
| topic | Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science Digital Libraries Social and Information Networks Physics and Society |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04607 |