Self-Citation Policy

The Journal of Engineering, Science and Technological Trends (JESTT) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, transparency, and publication ethics. Responsible citation practices are essential to ensuring scholarly credibility and preserving the reliability of academic metrics. This policy outlines the journal’s position regarding both author self-citation and journal self-citation.
Self-citation refers to the practice of authors citing their own previously published work (author self-citation) or citing articles previously published in the same journal (journal self-citation). While self-citation can be appropriate and academically justified, it must always serve a clear scholarly purpose.
Legitimate self-citation is acceptable when it is scientifically relevant and necessary to provide essential background, clarify methodology, ensure continuity of research, or build logically upon prior findings. Such citations should strengthen the academic quality of the manuscript and contribute meaningfully to the discussion.
Excessive or inappropriate self-citation occurs when references are included without clear academic relevance or primarily for the purpose of increasing citation counts or influencing author-level or journal-level metrics. Such practices are inconsistent with responsible publishing standards and will not be tolerated.
The proportion of author self-citations in a submitted manuscript should generally not exceed 8-12% of the total references unless a clear and scientifically justified explanation is provided. Editors and reviewers must not request authors to add citations to their own work or to the journal unless those citations are directly relevant and necessary to improve the scholarly content of the manuscript.
The journal reserves the right to monitor and evaluate self-citation patterns using recognized indexing and detection systems, including Crossref, Scopus, or comparable databases. Manuscripts found to contain excessive or unjustified self-citations may be returned for revision or, in serious cases, rejected. The editorial office also monitors journal self-citation rates to ensure alignment with internationally accepted publishing standards.
Authors are expected to ensure that all references included in their manuscripts are directly relevant, academically justified, and compliant with recognized international publication ethics standards, including those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).