Citation Data for Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) Journals Indexed in the 2023 Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

This dataset contains the complete set of citation records used in the article “The MDPI journals in the scientific communication circuit: exploring their citation patterns”. It compiles all citations received by the 237 MDPI journals indexed in the 2023 edition of the Web of Science Journal Citation Reports (JCR), totaling more than 1.6 million citation links. The dataset was collected to enable a systematic and replicable analysis of MDPI’s citation patterns, including the distribution of self-citations, intra-publisher citations, and external citations, as well as their variation across quartiles, scientific fields, and publishers. Data were retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) in December 2024, using the official “citing sources” lists for each MDPI journal included in the 2023 JCR. These records were consolidated and enriched with additional metadata sourced from JCR, including best journal quartile, WoS index, publisher, and subject category. Subject categories were subsequently mapped to the OECD Revised Fields of Science and Technology (FOS) classification following the InCites dictionary. The primary purpose of this dataset is to support transparent, reproducible research on MDPI citation dynamics. It enables the reconstruction of citation flows, the identification of within-publisher and cross-publisher citation structures, and the assessment of how citation patterns relate to disciplinary composition and journal performance metrics. The dataset also serves as a resource for scientometric studies interested in editorial practices, publisher-level dynamics, and the broader evaluation of academic communication systems.