問題： 主編要我引用跟我的研究無關的文章，該怎么做？

你的參考文獻應該只放相關的文章，如果編輯發給你的清單中有跟研究無關的文章，最好不要加進去。如果有一兩篇有一點關聯，那就可以考慮加一下，這樣看起來才不會像是在忽略編輯的要求。你可以在回復信中說明你已經加了相關的文章，但剩下的因為跟研究無關，所以沒有添加。

編輯要求作者引用自家期刊發表的文章還算常見，這是為了提高論文的引用數，只要編輯是以建議的方式提出，而你有權決定是否要將這些文章加到參考文獻中，那就沒有問題。但是，如果編輯將這當成發表條件，你認為期刊施壓逼你引用這些文章，那么這就有強迫引用或是操縱引用的嫌疑，根據科學編輯委員會發表道德白皮書，這屬于不當行為。

如果在跟主編互動的過程當中，你感受到主編堅持你要引用，或是暗示你如果不引用有可能會拒掉稿件，你可以請導師或是 PI 介入溝通。請你的導師或是 PI 替你發郵件給編輯，郵件開頭先介紹導師是知名學者，接著用以下內容：

“I have provided academic counsel and supervision to my young colleague, _________, regarding this manuscript and especially the Review of Literature. As a scholar in my own right, one who has some significant experience of this field, I found it particularly interesting to review the list of recommended references which you drew to my young colleague's attention. I have advised him/her to incorporate one/two of them (identify which one/ones) since I believe that source has some relevance, albeit tangential, to the foundational literature both for the subject area as well as for the specific paper that was submitted to your journal. The inclusion of citations supportive of hypotheses is never truly straightforward; however, I think in this case I can support and have recommended the inclusion of one of your recommendations for this submission.

Thank you for drawing our attention to the broad literature base within your journal. I trust that you will understand, upon reflection, why I am recommending the inclusion of one/two but not all of those references.

I look forward, along with my young colleague, to learning your disposition regarding acceptance of this manuscript.”

希望資深學者的介入能讓編輯收斂他的強迫行為。