Chinese Researchers More Likely to Cite Each Other Compared With Global Peers, Studies Show
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Chinese researchers are more likely than their overseas peers to cite academic papers produced in their own country, with nearly two-thirds of the citations for China’s most-cited papers in recent years coming from domestic papers, recent studies showed.
One study from Japan’s National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) found 62% of the citations that referenced China’s top 10% most cited papers from 2020 to 2022 were in papers authored by Chinese scholars. A parallel study from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich reached a similar conclusion, adding that China’s global research ranking appears lower when the size of domestic citations is “debiased.”
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- Studies found Chinese researchers predominantly cite domestic academic papers, with 62% of references in top-cited Chinese papers being from China itself.
- China's paper citation count surpassed the U.S. in 2022, with Chinese citations increasingly recognized globally, while same-country citation practices led to concerns over potential research ranking biases.
- Adjusted analysis shows China's global ranking in top journal citations drops from second to fourth, behind the U.S., U.K., and Germany.
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