1887
Volume 8, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2542-3835
  • E-ISSN: 2542-3843
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Abstract

Abstract

The focus on ensuring quality control measures and ethics is gaining more and more prominence in the field of applied linguistics; and in this avenue, researchers are examining Questionable Research Practices (QRPs). In this study, we set out to examine self-citations within QRPs as a form of self-promotion that may unjustifiably boost the scientometrics of academics and may lead to unfair advantages. To this end, we created a database of recent open-access articles from the last five years (2019–2023) published in the five leading journals in applied linguistics ( = 359). Our findings suggest that there is a high extent of self-citations, and there are significant differences in the total counts of self-citations in the selected journals. Based on the COPE (2019) guidelines, the range of excessive self-citations is relatively high in the selected journals. Policy is needed to be included in author guidelines regarding what means.

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2025-12-01
2025-12-15
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