This paper investigates journal self‐citation trends between 1975 and 2017. The research sought to answer whether articles that include journal self‐citations are more highly cited, if they affect the journal impact factor, and whether such articles are more relevant to their journals' content than others. We analysed approximately 24,000 active journals indexed in the Web of Science from 1975 to 2018 and found that, over time, whilst overall citations have increased dramatically, the percentage of journal self‐citations has reduced. Although self‐citations to recently published articles has increased since 2004, self‐citations also seem to have a decreasing effect on impact factor. High‐impact journals self‐cite recent publications more than lower‐impact journals but also cite recently published content more frequently than lower‐impact journals. There is a positive citation effect on articles that include journal self‐citations, and these appear more related to the current content of that journal based on the relatedness of references. Journal self‐citation can therefore be seen as a useful indicator to determine whether an article is a good fit for a journal and of interest to its readers. It may also contribute to higher visibility and impact of an article.

中文翻译：

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1975-2017年期刊的自引趋势及其对期刊影响和文章引文的影响

本文调查了1975年至2017年之间期刊自引的趋势。该研究试图回答包含期刊自引的文章是否被较高引用，是否影响期刊影响因素以及此类文章是否与期刊相关性更高。内容比别人满意。我们分析了从1975年至2018年在Web of Science中被索引的大约24,000种活跃期刊，发现随着时间的流逝，虽然总体引文数量急剧增加，但期刊自引率却有所下降。尽管自2004年以来对最近发表文章的自引用有所增加，但自引用对影响因子的影响似乎也在下降。与低影响期刊相比，高影响期刊对近期出版物的自引用要多于对低影响期刊的引用，但对近期出版内容的引用也要比对低影响期刊的引用更为频繁。对包含期刊自引的文章有积极的引文作用，基于引文的相关性，这些引文似乎与该期刊的当前内容更相关。因此，期刊自引可以被视为确定某篇文章是否适合期刊并使其读者感兴趣的有用指标。它还可能有助于提高文章的可见性和影响力。因此，期刊自引可以被视为确定某篇文章是否适合期刊并使其读者感兴趣的有用指标。它还可能有助于提高文章的可见性和影响力。因此，期刊自引可以被视为确定某篇文章是否适合期刊并使其读者感兴趣的有用指标。它还可能有助于提高文章的可见性和影响力。