v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 1,610 entries across 24 domains · CC-BY 4.01,610 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack DStablev2026.2

Citation cartel

A group of authors, editors, or journals that systematically cite one another's work beyond what the science would warrant, in order to inflate citation-based metrics. A pattern is cartel-like when the citation flows between members are dramatically denser than flows to comparable non-members.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
Three journals whose editors mutually request the addition of their journals' citations during peer review, producing a tight citation triangle visible in network maps.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A specialist subfield where a small number of authors naturally cite each other often because they are the only researchers working on the topic.

Editorial commentary

Citation cartels can operate at the level of individual authors (mutual citation pacts), journals (cross-journal citation stacking), or editorial boards (encouraging citation to a partner journal). They are detectable through bibliometric network analysis showing anomalous clustering. Clarivate periodically suppresses journals from Journal Citation Reports when cartel-like patterns are observed.

References

Fister, Fister & Perc (2016) 'Toward the discovery of citation cartels in citation networks'
Clarivate Journal Citation Reports suppression policy (current edition)

Also known as

citation ring · citation stacking · citation manipulation network

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Citation cartel"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/citation-cartel" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/citation-cartel",
  "name": "Citation cartel",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/citation-cartel",
  "description": "A group of authors, editors, or journals that systematically cite one another's work beyond what the science would warrant, in order to inflate citation-based metrics. A pattern is cartel-like when the citation flows between members are dramatically denser than flows to comparable non-members.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-integrity#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/citation-cartel",
  "sameAs": [
    "citation ring",
    "citation stacking",
    "citation manipulation network"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:52",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

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