MySql, 2 columns in same table referencing same data -

my table formatted follows each row represents paper:

id    title     year    cite1 1     title1    year1    3 2     title2    year2    1 3     title3    year3    n ... n     titlen     yearn   2 

i have selected id primary key. cite1 contains id of paper specific paper cites. values in cite1 ids. in future want make connections between paper , paper cites.

my question is, correct have id primary key or should cite1 column contains ids of papers?

i new mysql appreciate feedback!

the idea looking "foreign key". id is, indeed, primary key on table. cite1 foreign key refers same table:

alter table papers add constraint fk_papers_cite1     foreign key (cite1) references papers(id); 

i worry bit have column called cite1 instead of cite. if papers can cite multiple other papers, proper way represent table, papercitations, has 1 row per paper , per paper being cited. having multiple columns called things cite1, cite2 , on not way go. storing delimited list string wrong.