Abstract
This study examines the bibliometric indicators used in the Scopus database, particularly the h-index and CiteScore, to determine the extent to which self-citation influences these indicators. It establishes a theoretical framework for bibliometric indicators in Scopus, defines the h-index and journal evaluation metrics, examines the impact of self-citations on these measures, and explains the calculation of journal metrics with and without self-citations.
The findings reveal several significant patterns. Differences were observed in authors’ h-index values before and after excluding self-citations, indicating that the number of publications and the frequency of authors’ self-citations can influence h-index values, with the effect becoming more pronounced as an author’s scientific output increases. Similarly, journal impact indicators decreased after excluding self-citations, suggesting that self-citations may contribute to higher journal impact measurements. Differences were also observed in journal h-index values before and after removing self-citations, confirming that self-citation affects the evaluation of journal impact.