问题： 主编要我引用跟我的研究无关的文章，该怎么做？

你的参考文献应该只放相关的文章，如果编辑发给你的清单中有跟研究无关的文章，最好不要加进去。如果有一两篇有一点关联，那就可以考虑加一下，这样看起来才不会像是在忽略编辑的要求。你可以在回复信中说明你已经加了相关的文章，但剩下的因为跟研究无关，所以没有添加。

编辑要求作者引用自家期刊发表的文章还算常见，这是为了提高论文的引用数，只要编辑是以建议的方式提出，而你有权决定是否要将这些文章加到参考文献中，那就没有问题。但是，如果编辑将这当成发表条件，你认为期刊施压逼你引用这些文章，那么这就有强迫引用或是操纵引用的嫌疑，根据科学编辑委员会发表道德白皮书，这属于不当行为。

如果在跟主编互动的过程当中，你感受到主编坚持你要引用，或是暗示你如果不引用有可能会拒掉稿件，你可以请导师或是 PI 介入沟通。请你的导师或是 PI 替你发邮件给编辑，邮件开头先介绍导师是知名学者，接着用以下内容：

“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.”

希望资深学者的介入能让编辑收敛他的强迫行为。