Friends, I actually thought that one of our objectives in our research is to contribute by extending the work of others that were significant in the same field.  What is your view? Is that purpose not sufficient?

Thanks dear Barbara.  I had that idea too, about the reviewer.  But the editors were very good to me.  One editor sent me a message that accepted my paper, although it's not yet published.  I had gone through to make sure all the paragraphs are fine, and past papers were cited.  I wish editors and reviewers accept our papers based on merit, and don't have these unethical, calculative practices.  (My laptop is being repaired, but I have mobile internet.)

Dear Miraanda,

I have no such situation nor proposition from the journal councils nor editors that you described. This is strange practice.

Thanks dear Dr Iva.  I had some input from several good friends who actually told me just send my paper to another journal.  But sharing this on RG may increase alternatives.  We still need to be ethical even when others are just calculative.  Wait for others to join this discussion.

I have never encountered such a situation in my entire professional life. No reviewer has ever suggested to cite his work in my own publication.

Thanks Prof Kamal and KM Singh.  But did you cite papers from the journal you sent your papers to?  I just write my paper to fulfill my research objectives, and did not think of other things.

This is a very uncommon practice to me, dear Miranda! But one of the major research purposes is to make our work and the work of others as well known! Is not it?

Thanks Prof Kamal.  That's the same as my procedure in my writing.  Here, we have few journals, and each one publishes few articles.  The RECSAM journal only takes 6 papers year.  My college does not like us to pay to publish either.  That's why I must try the foreign journals with IF.  And like you all, I think my research is worth sharing.

In one of my questions, “What is the role of a reviewer of journal? Is it only to review articles and give negative comments?”.  I believe the role of a reviewer is not only reviewing an article, but also enriching its contents.

In fact, no one of reviewers or editors hint or state that I am doing well to cite articles of that journal. But it happened that one reviewerstated that one of his publications is better to be referred to. 

Thanks Prof Marwan.  Yes, we publish 1 paper, and it should benefit the whole research community.  Could it be that journal C just wanted to make sure that they retain their IF value, and consider that 3 citations in hand is better than 6 in the bush?  From mobile.

The goal is to provide the most relevant information, whatever the journal. Why not citing/mentioning relevant information when you know that the information has been published. I presume that the referee has read the article in journal C and is competent. When a reviewer proposes to cite a relevant article, and you do not agree you can explain why you think you should not cite the article. It would show that you have read the article in journal C and that you are competent in your field.

Dear All and Dr Miranda; I have never experienced such situation during my publications. But my opinion is that if asked reference is well suited and supporting the findings of author be mentioned. Otherwise it is non of the business of editor to direct or force the author for quoting the desired reference. It is highly unethical and undesirable. Thanks.

Dear Miranda, the procedure is undoufully unusual and unethical. Nevertheless, an attempt could be made to obtain the requested papers writing a simple mail to authors (I receive many requests and try to satidfy all). Once obtained the articles, you can judge whether they are really basic for your paper or not. In the first case you may revise and resubmit, in the other you may suspend your submission, write your opinion to the Editor and shift to another journal. This should be my behaviour in a similar case.

Dear friends, I will heed all the good advice given.  5 of my good friends have already told me to move to another journal.  But I like being ethical.  And when we only communicate by written words it's difficult to understand the other party 100%.  Also, I do most of my research alone.  I have included other friends' names, because I used their students.  But that's the paper rejected.  

Friends, so far, it's Barbara, Iva, Prof Mahfuz, who know about this matter.  I will wait.  Who knows, others on RG may have been in similar situations, not entirely black, but not white either.  There must be some good lessons in life from this.

Dear Miranda,

I have had comments that I should cite a specific author, and sometimes a specific article, which was supposedly an expert in the field that I had failed to cite properly. I found it acceptable and understood that the reviewer wanted me to give a better overview of the current literature. So in my opinion, if the reviewer or editor of these journals had the same intention, it is acceptable. But if you feel that what they wanted is just that you cite a specific journal, I think it is completely unacceptable and unethical... 

A researcher  need not follow whatever they (Journal editor or reviewer) say to follow, unless and otherwise it is really relevant to their work.

As you know finding good and correct reviewer's is not as easy for editors.  I faced many times with a problem that the reviewer wanted to cite his/her papers. The question was in these case I had to decide as editor that these papers were really important to improve the manuscript or the reviewer wanted to increase the citing of his/her papers.  In first case it is a correct, in the second case it is an unethical demand.

Dear @ Laszlo, do you, as editor, ask authors to cite the papers published by your journal?  If you don't, please tell us the methods you can use to be sure that it's IF is always up, never drops.  That is why I think this is a gray area.  All of us really want the journal IF to be high, but through ethical means!

Yes Dr. Miranda Yeoh, As mentioned by @ Prof. Kamal Eddin Bani-Hani , do what You think right. I also have the same opinion. Regards

Dear Miranda

I agree with what have been mentioned by colleagues.

It seems that the main purpose of such journals is to increase number of their readers. However, I do not personally like such a practise. It is totally unacceptable. They just want to improve their IF.

Dear Miranda,

There is no any special request towards authors to cite our journal papers,   only a general sentence is in the information letter about publishing theirs paper not to forget to cite their own work in the future to distribute the information contained in that. It is an  advertisment (the self-citing) for our journal, but the self-citing does not increase the impact factor. 

We can follow the increasing of citings in case of our journal in Scopus and Thomson Reuters database (giving the paper parameters/journal name, and References), it shows the citings in these database journals.  Since 60 % of chemical journal is not indexed in these databases, we follow the Scifinder (Chemical Abstract) references as well. 

Dear @Miranda, I do think that You remember about COPE, I have already written about. Ethics is the issue. COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers are attached! CODE OF CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR JOURNAL EDITORS follows! Some misconduct cases are given! - link 3.

http://publicationethics.org/files/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf

http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20Conduct_1.pdf

http://publicationethics.org/search/site/reviewer

Dear Miranda,

As Kamal put it similar case has never happened with me. Once asked me an editor to cite directly (to read the original) an article which I cited indirectly. I have heard about a journal whose editors (or members of editorial board) attached a list of papers some of them future authors would have had to cite. Certainly, none of these big potatoes was a Grail Knight.

Most of colleagues who answered this questions were authors for their publications and reviewers for other publications. 

I do not think that any of us, as reviewers, did any hint or stated that the author did well to cite articles of that journal.

Thanks dear friends for your posts.  I know what I should do.  Thanks for the links Prof Ljubomir.  Thanks for lateral views @ Cecilia, I had similar experiences when I was doing the PhD.  Thanks @ Laszlo, Andras, all Profs and friends.  I will be very busy, working on the paper.

@Miranda Yeoh, No I did not cite papers from the journal where I sent my article for publication. I think that the problem might be in journals which are new and want to increase their impact factors, by asking submitting authors to cite them, not the established ones. However, I have not faced this problem ever so can't be sure if if is a standard practice.

Having published an article, being a reviewer, attending the conference, we will cite these journals then everywhere- in other articles, on lectures, in reports (countdown) for the year in the site of department.Every of us was a reviewer, and we only analyzed the future publication according to the plan in the strict, defined frames.. It was anonymously.  I think, your situation is a strange kind of ad in the scientific journal, dear Miranda.

Dear friends, thanks.  I think all of us are in agreement that such journals would like to increase impact factor.  Dear Irina and friends, the reviewing process was anonymous, but the comments of 3 reviewers were sent to me.  One of them had this: 'The references probably need to be strengthened...add a few references from Journal B'.

But the paper was accepted by Journal B around November this year.  I really thought it was a long time.  Journal B is Scopus indexed.  Then, when my paper was rejected by Journal C, although the editor admitted that I had extended 2 other previous studies, I wondered if this could be a reason or part of it. Thanks again; I continue to improve my paper, taking all the comments that can make it better.

Influence of a Journal editor or reviewer to cite a journal tantamount to force-conjure on the researcher, which is illegal.

The frequency of citations to an especial article by other articles means citation count. In addition, citation index as a type of bibliographic database traces the references in a published article. Citation index shows that how many times an article has been cited with other articles. In other words, one can find that which later article cites which earlier articles. Citations are applied to measure the importance of information contained in an article and the effect of a journal in related area of research activity and publications.

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1305/1305.0379.pdf

Thanks Roland and Umachandran.  @Roland, I read your previous post.  I understand you completely.  Maybe it's because I do not have a 'big name'.  If I had a 'big name', perhaps the journals would be happy to publish my paper.  Now, however good my paper is, I may continue to get such remarks from reviewers, editors.  This time however, the editor of Journal B accepted the paper.  I am thankful.

Sometimes, this experience brings to my mind the words of King Solomon, son of David.  Solomon's advice in Ecclesiastes 12:12: 'Of the making of books there is no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh.'  It reminds me that I must live with heaven in view while I'm still on this earth.

As I remembered one article was rejected because I hadn't any reference to the specific journal...(as they wrote me)

Thank you friends for your posts.  Dear @Roland and friends, thanks for your confidence.  This is the value of RG to me, this online friendship is valuable.  @Demetris, thanks for your post.  I think you aren't the only one in this situation.  (The editors and reviewers may even say that they are also in a rat race to compete!)  It's a materialistic society, and we need inner strength to cope.  Our friends on RG are a source of positive encouragement.  Thanks to all.

Dear Miranda,

In an ideal world, reviewers should not force us to cite their own works. But there are few exceptions:

1) Reviewers are human and human like fame and glory

2) Some reviewers start learning when they are asked to review a manuscript! (They are picked up haphazardly and are more problematic than enhancing the manuscript) so they may act in that way. .Good or bad you should decide to resist or give up.

3) Sometimes the author does not cite a relevant work (intentionally or unintentionally) in such cases It is good to follow reviewer's advise to make such amendments or make rebuttal.

4) Usually we submit a manuscript to a journal that covers the scope of our work and has published similar papers already. In this case, It is OK if we cite relevant papers from that journal right from the beginning (before the editor or reviewer say so).

Thanks @Mahmoud, for a great answer.  The reviewer didn't force me 'to cite their own works'; but 'suggested' I should add papers from the journal to my references.  I agree to all your 4 points.  I have been citing the papers that I receive from friends, from journals 'that covers the scope of our work and has published similar papers.'   If I had more, I would also cite.  Thanks.

Thanks @Roland, it's true that Mahmoud's points are crystal clear.  But I wish I have more relevant articles to cite.  I have a friend on RG who has said she will get some references for me, but she is rather busy and has not been able to do this.  She has access to the journals.  Still, I will wait and remind this friend from time to time.

I have another friend in Romania that I'm working with on another paper.  She has access to some other journals.  She is also busy.  But then it's the same with me.  So busy till the time on QA need to be reduced.  But research is more important.  It's because of research that I'm in RG :)  [It has started to pour, my internet access may be interrupted anytime.]

Thanks indeed Brenda, what an encouraging news.  I've sent off a paper to BJEP, and I searched for another suitable journal in education psychology.  The impact factor is lower, and the requirements are greater (J PSYCHOL, not so suitable because it's not Edu Psych)  Anyone who knows about Education Psychology journal with IF of about 2, please inform me.  Thanks dear friends.

I see, opinions are very far apart.

When we say there are certain rules that you must adhere to, then that is correct in principle, but there must be no rule prescribing me as author, literature, I have to use. The reviewer may indicate article where he sees a incorrectness in the scientific representation, nothing more. To require a special reference, I find as Kamal unacceptable and unethical.

I also think it is incorrect that I should make a deal with the magazine. Publications are on one side representing the progress of development, but also stimulate the critical discussion; with evident faults must be excluded. The latter task is a criterion for good reviewer.

Thanks @Shaban and Schulze for your views.  I also got some advice from Prof Zaal.  He's attached to a university in Georgia (Europe), but he's pysically based in Indonesia, very near to me.  He said,

'How important is having IF publications? This depends on how desperately you need it. If the new position you are applying for does require it, this can be important. But usually universities/colleges are happy also with citation index given by Google Scholar.'  DO YOU AGREE?

Friends, I read several papers in journal X.  I observed that in the sample papers, the results are very brief, and values of statistical tests are not given in the abstract.  On the other hand, you can see that my writing is transparent and I include the stats in my abstracts.

Do journals with impact factor normally adopt this practice?  Is it to ensure that we will pay for the papers if we need to cite the statistical analyses and results?  What have you been observing when you read papers in your field?  (Thanks dear friends for great advice.  Flower for you...)

Hello again friends.  I found some more 'evidence'....I quote:

"· Editors, who will be judged in part on the change in

journal impact factor, may take into account the

future citation rates of a manuscript in deciding

whether to offer publication.

· Impact factors may be manipulated by both authors

and editors. I recently received a letter from one

editor suggesting that, where possible, references to

that journal should be included in manuscripts

submitted to the journal."

Article Impact factors: Uses and abuses

Dear friends, about 3 months ago, my collaborator, a dear friend in Romania sent off a paper to a journal that has a IF of about 0.4.  So far we have not received any news, although that paper publishes articles on that topic of research, meaning that the topic is relevant.  We also cited 2 papers from that journal.  I really wonder what the journal is doing...

Have you contacted the editor so far? What is the Journal you are speaking about. 3 months is a long time! 

No, I did not contact the editor.  My friend in Romania checked that the paper was still in the review process.  It seems to be sitting there.  But we are going to start writing another 2 more papers at least.  We will send to other journals, not that one anymore.  It was a British Journal, but based in Hong Kong.  

Recently, my paper was rejected by a journal.  But at least it was reviewed.  But the opinions of both reviewers did not concur sufficiently to make the revision easy.  Reviewer 1 said, do not discuss too much on the work of T&S, unless I want to validate that study, using my own sample from my own country.  But reviewer 2 said that I should discuss in detail how I obtain the validity and reliability results.

The only thing on which they agreed was that the paper should be re-written.  Now I wonder if I should take the advice of reviewer 1 or 2.  Actually I will find the job easier if I take the advice of reviewer 1.  What do you advise?

Do easier rewriting dear @Miranda. I would do so!

Miranda,

Making an acceptable revision considering the diverse/inconsistent comments of referees is not an easy task.

Follow this rule and wait for the comments on your next submission:

(Not discuss too much + Discuss in detail)/2=Moderate discussion

Thanks dear Ljubomir and Raoof.  I will follow the advice of Reviewer 1, and then send back to the same journal, and tell the editor what I have done based on the advice of reviewer 1.  That journal only has an IF of about 0.4.  I will spend this weekend on the paper.  Thanks to all.

Dear @Miranda, this is good to read. 4 ways to win an editor’s heart!

Useful tips from an editor that might just help you get published.

https://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/home/featured-article/4-ways-to-win-an-editors-heart

Thanks dear Ljubomir.  I have addressed 3 issues that Reviewer 1 suggested, and there are a few more.  I work as much as possible despite other duties, and this 34 Celsius heat, and with a 45 C realfeel.  (I have to stop many times to dink lots of water.)