To address the security risk caused by fixed offset mapping and the limited recoverability of random mapping used in image watermarking, a self‐embedding fragile image watermarking algorithm based on deneighbourhood mapping are proposed. First, the image is divided into several 2 × 2 blocks, and authentication watermark and recovery watermark are generated based on the average value of the image blocks. Then, the denighbourhood mapping is implemented as, for each image block, its mapping block is randomly selected outside its neighbourhood. Finally, the authentication watermark and the recovery watermark are embedded into the image block itself and its mapping block. Theoretical analysis indicates that in the case of continuous area tampering, the proposed watermarking algorithm can achieve a better recovery rate than that of the method based on the random mapping. The experimental results verify the rationality and effectiveness of the theoretical analysis. Moreover, compared with the existing embedding algorithms based on random mapping, chaos mapping, and Arnold mapping, in the case of continuous area tampering, the proposed algorithm also achieves a higher average recovery rate.