How to make a name for oneself in academe

Not that I am revealing anything new, but thought you might get a kick out of this.

We all know that a lot of people, especially "scholars," tend to have an ego the size of Quebec (sorry, Texas, you're not big enough as a measure of size).  It gets to you, though, doesn't it, when some of them acquire a god complex.  But what irritates me most is how often people take every chance they have to aggrandize themselves.

For one of my papers, I am reading a crap ton of research articles on ethnicity.  As I was reading this one review article (i.e. an article that provides an overview of the "state of the art" if you will on a particular subject, in this case ethnicity.  It would look at numerous important articles in extant literature, and tell the reader where things are on the leading edge.  That sort of thing), I saw some very familiar high-powered names, as I would expect.

So big deal researchers like Alba get cited twice.  Berry, three times.  Rosenthal four times.  Glazer, surprisingly, only got one mention.  Tajfel got three.  If you don't know these people, it's ok.  Take my word for it, they are like the ethnicity research Hall of Famers.  So, no surprises there.  But wait.  The author of the review article itself (I will not say her name here) got cited FIVE times!!!!!  Yup.  This is what it looks like, right?  I am reviewing the state of the art, and I am the one most often cited as being state of the art.  Look at me, mom, I am SO fucking great!

Yeah yeah, I know that academics do often cite themselves.  But this is just blatant and crass.  And you know, I read some of the person's work, and they seem to be a constant regurgitation of her own previous work.  The same shit all over again.

So rude.