  Metrics designed to quantify the influence of academics are increasingly used
and easily estimable, and perhaps the most popular is the h index. Metrics such
as this are however potentially impacted through excessive self citation. This
work explores the issue using a group of researchers working in a well defined
sub field of economics, namely Health Economics. It then employs self citation
identification software, and identifies the characteristics that best predict
self citation. This provides evidence regarding the scale of self citation in
the field, and the degree to which self citation impacts on inferences about
the relative influence of individual Health Economists. Using data from 545
Health Economists, it suggests self citation to be associated with the
geographical region and longevity of the Health Economist, with early career
researchers and researchers from mainland Europe and Australasia self citing
most frequently.
