听考研真题|2023年英一阅读4:当学术引文沦为交易工具

Scientific papers are the record keepers of progress in research. Each year researchers publish millions of papers in more than 30,000 journals. 

The scientific community measures the quality of those papers in a number of ways, including the perceived quality of the journal (as reflected by the title's impact factor) and the number of citations a specific paper accumulates.

【生词】perceived adj. 感知到的、被认为的，公认的

citation n.引用, 引证, 引文, 表扬

The careers of scientists and the reputation of their institutions depend on the number and prestige of the papers they produce, but even more so on the citations attracted by these papers.

【生词】prestige n.威信，威望; adj.令人敬仰的；受尊重的

【翻译】科学家及其所属机构的声誉，既取决于他们发表的论文数量与学术声望，更关键的是这些论文所获得的引用量。

Citation cartels, where journals, authors, and institutions conspire to inflate citation numbers, have existed for a long time. 

【生词】conspire v.密谋，共谋, 共同导致（不良后果）

inflate  vt.& vi.使充气，（使）膨胀, （使）通货膨胀

【翻译】期刊、作者与机构合谋虚报引用次数的“引用操纵行为”已存在多年。

In 2016, researchers developed an algorithm to recognize suspicious citation patterns, including groups of authors that disproportionately cite one another and groups of journals that cite each other frequently to increase the impact factors of their publications. 

【生词】algorithm n.运算法则, 演算法, 计算程序

suspicious adj.可疑的, 猜疑的，怀疑的, 多疑的，不信任的, 多心

Recently, another expression of this predatory behavior has emerged: so-called support service consultancies that provide language and other editorial support to individual authors and to journals sometimes advise contributors to add a number of citations to their articles.

【生词】predatory adj.掠夺成性的, 食肉的, 捕食生物的

consultancy n.顾问工作，顾问职位

【翻译】近来，这种掠夺性行为又呈现出另一种表现形式：即所谓的“支持性咨询服务机构”，这些机构为个人作者及期刊提供语言及其他编辑支持，有时还会建议投稿者在其文章中添加大量引文。

The advent of electronic publishing and authors’need to find outlets for their papers resulted in thousands of new journals. 

【生词】advent n.出现，到来，问世

outlet n.出口，渠道, 经销店

【翻译】电子出版的出现，以及作者为其论文寻找发表渠道的需求，共同促成了数以千计新期刊的涌现。

The birth of predatory journals wasn't far behind. These journals can act as milk cows where every single article in an issue may cite a specific paper or a series of papers. 

    【翻译】掠夺性期刊的兴起也接踵而至。这类期刊可充当“摇钱树”，其每期期刊中的每一篇文章均可引用某篇特定论文或一系列论文。

In some instances, there is absolutely no relationship between the content of the article and the citations. 

The peculiar part is that the journal that the editor is supposedly working for is not profiting at all—it is just providing citations to other journals. 

【翻译】奇怪之处在于，编辑据称所供职的期刊实际上根本没有任何盈利——它仅负责为其他期刊提供引文。

Such practices can lead an article to accrue more than 150 citations in the same year that it was published.

【生词】accrue vi.增加, 产生, 获得, 积累; vt.（利息等）自然增值

【翻译】此类做法可能导致一篇论文在发表当年获得超过150 篇引用。

How insidious is this type of citation manipulation? In one example, an individual--acting as author, editor, and consultant--was able to use at least 15 journals as citation providers to articles published by five scientists at three universities. 

【生词】insidious adj.隐伏的，潜在的, 暗中为害的, 阴险的, 狡猾的

manipulation n.（熟练的）操作, 操纵, 控制, （对账目等的）伪造

【翻译】这种引文操纵手段究竟有多阴险？例如，某一人物——同时担任作者、编辑及顾问——竟能利用至少 15 种期刊作为引文来源，来引用三位来自三所大学的科学家所发表的论文。

The problem is rampant in Scopus, a citation database, which includes a high number of the new “international”journals. In fact, a listing in Scopus seems to be a criterion to be targeted in this type of citation manipulation.

【生词】rampant adj.蔓延的, 猖獗的

【翻译】这一问题在Scopus 这一引文数据库中十分普遍，因为该数据库收录了大量新型“国际”期刊。事实上，在 Scopus 中上榜似乎已成为此类引文操纵行为中一个常被瞄准的目标标准。

Scopus itself has all the data necessary to detect this malpractice. Red flags include a large number of citations to an article within the first year. 

【生词】malpractice n.玩忽职守, [医]治疗不当，滥治, 弊端, 藏掖

【翻译】Scopus 数据库本身已具备检测此类学术不端行为所需的全部数据。警示信号包括某篇论文在发布首年内被大量引用。

And for authors who wish to steer clear of citation cartel activities: when an editor a reviewer, or a support service asks you to add inappropriate references, do not oblige and do report the request to the journal.

【生词】steer clear of 远离

oblige vt.强制，强迫, 使负债务, 使感激, 施惠于; vi.施恩惠, 帮忙，效劳

【翻译】对于希望避免卷入引用垄断行为的作者：若编辑、审稿人或支持服务部门要求您添加不恰当的参考文献，请勿配合，并将该要求上报至期刊编辑部。