What's the use of citation? Citation analysis as a literature topic in selected disciplines of the social sciences

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the place and role of citation analysis in our own discipline and other disciplines. The authors have examined the research literature of informa tion science and other disciplines in order to: determine what proportion is devoted to citation analysis, develop an inductive typology to categorize the major foci of research being conducted under the rubric of citation analysis, and use the typology to determine how citation analysis is applied within information science and other disciplines. By isolating citation from bibliometrics in general, and by exploring the topic across literatures, the authors differen tiate their work from previous studies. Analysis of data from a ten-year sample of transdisciplinary social sciences literature suggests that two application areas predominate: the validity of citation as an evaluation tool, and impact or performance studies of authors, journals and institutions.

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