The article by Apoor Gami and associates1 on self-citation in the diabetes literature included 1 self-citation (out of a total of 9 references), which involved 3 of the study's authors (reference 6 in the original article). Thus, self-citation constituted 11% of the article's citations, which is more than the reported mean of 18% and median of 7%.
We agree that this phenomenon is prevalent in the literature. We, too, have published articles with self-citations.2,3 In fact, this letter now has a self-citation rate of 66%!
Raheem B. Kherani Rheumatology Fellow Michelle Fung University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC
References
- 1.Gami AS, Montori VM, Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB. Author self-citation in the diabetes literature. CMAJ 2004;170(13):1925-7. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- 2.Kherani RB, Papaioannou A, Adachi JD. Long-term tolerability of the bisphosphonates in postmenopausal osteoporosis: a comparative review. Drug Saf 2002;25(11):781-90. [DOI] [PubMed]
- 3.Fung MA, Frohlich JJ. Common problems in the management of hypertriglyceridemia. CMAJ 2002; 167(11):1261-6. [PMC free article] [PubMed]