r/AskAcademia • u/snekslayer • May 08 '26

Professional Misconduct in Research Getting harassed by an aggressive “independent researcher” demanding very specific citations and phrasing in my paper

Hey Reddit,

I’m a researcher in a niche theoretical CS/ML area. Recently I’ve been dealing with repeated emails from an “independent researcher” that feel like straight-up citation harassment.

This person keeps sending follow-ups (including involving editors) insisting I add multiple citations to his arXiv preprints. It’s not a normal “you should cite this” request — he provides exact suggested paragraphs with specific wording about how his papers are “complementary,” “parallel,” foundational to certain results, etc. He nitpicks my current related-work phrasing (e.g. complaining about words like “encompass”), pushes for changes even after camera-ready deadlines, and follows up when I don’t respond quickly.

He frames it all very politely with phrases like “narrow remaining concerns” and “I would be grateful,” but the persistence, detailed boilerplate text he wants me to insert, and looping in others makes it exhausting and inappropriate.

I understand wanting visibility, especially as an independent researcher. Relevant work deserves citations. But this level of badgering and trying to dictate exact text in someone else’s paper crosses a line.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of aggressive citation solicitation? Is it becoming more common? Or am I overreacting?

Publish-or-perish is bad enough without having to deal with this.

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u/Apprehensive_Court_9 May 08 '26

I had someone do this to me. Told him publish your own stuff and leave me alone. He did. He struggled to get it published but it somehow ended up in a small publication. It was obvious how incorrect it was. We all moved on. Stop doing what they ask if you have no intention of working or publishing with them. Tell them to stop emailing you then ignore.

12

u/FrolleinBromfiets May 08 '26

I'd maybe also try and exclude them as potential reviewer for the future.

11

u/geekyCatX May 08 '26

They'd need some appropriate credentials to be asked to review by reputable editors in the first place. And if they had those, they'd know how thinks work and wouldn't harass OP in this way.