Abstract :
Four cases, illustrated by four examples, of duplicate or
highly related publications can be distinguished and are
analyzed here using citation data obtained from the Science
Citation Index (SCI): (1) publication by different
authors in the same journal; (2) the same author(s) publishing
in different journals; (3) publication by different
authors in different journals; (4) the same author(s) publishing
highly related papers simultaneously in the same
journal, often as part of a series of papers. Example 1,
illustrating case 1, is an occurrence of highly related publications
in mechanistic organic chemistry. Example 2,
from analytical organic chemistry, contains elements of
cases 2 and 3. Example 3, dealing solely with case 3, discusses
two time-delayed publications from analytical biochemistry,
which were highlighted by Garfield several
times in the past to show how the SCI could be utilized to
avoid duplicate publication. Example 4, derived from synthetic
organic chemistry (total syntheses of taxol), contains
elements of cases 1, 3, and 4 and, to a lesser extent,
case 2. The citation records of the highly related or duplicate
publications can deviate considerably from the journal
impact factors; this was observed in three of the four
examples relating to cases 2, 3, and 4. The examples suggest
that citation of a paper may depend significantly on
the journal in which it is published. As an indicator of this
dependence, the journals in which the papers used in the
present examples appeared were examined. Other factors
such as key words in the paper title may also play a role
