A far more effective way to increase your citations, though, is simply to cite yourself. Self-citation, which one analysis found makes up around a third of all citations in the first three years after a paper’s publication, is a grey area.39 Science is incremental, and researchers work for many years on specific topics. It would be senseless to prevent them citing their own previous work when they’re taking the next step in their research programme. But some take it too far. The line between acceptable and problematic self-citation is often blurry, but some cases are clear cut.40
