On publisher distortion of the citation rate…

“60 per cent [of research academics] admit that they would add citations from a journal to their reference list before submitting their article to [that journal]”

Once submitted…

“Over 20 per cent of researchers have been pressured by journal editors to modify their articles in ways that manipulate the reputation of the journal […] Editors can manipulate their journal’s ranking by asking authors to include more citations of other articles in that very journal”