Citations
Introduction
"Research has shown that citations can be used as indicators
to measure and evaluate research performance. We can use citations to trace
the influence of research paper on other papers. As Garfield explains, “The
papers marked with frequent citations are regarded as useful by a
comparatively large number of researchers and experiments."
Citation analysis is therefore a reliable instrument of measurement and
evaluation of research performance.
Definition
Authors cite other authors in their works. Citation is a
thus bibliographic reference to a book, journal, webpage or any other
publication made deliberately in a research work, acknowledging the ideas of
works referred to.
Mere listing of a bibliographic reference, as in a bibliography, does not
constitute citation unless it is embedded in the body of an intellectual work.
Usually the combination of both the in-body citation and the bibliographic
entry in the research work constitutes what is commonly thought of as a
citation, whereas bibliographic entries by themselves are not.
What is Citation Analysis?
When one author cites another work, a relationship is
established, and such relationships do connote a special underlying meaning
that influential scientists and important works are cited more often than
others. Citation analysis is thus about analyzing such relationships by
author, publication year, subject category, institution, and language or
source title. It is one of the widely used bibliometric methods for evaluating
the impact and influence of research, identifying core sets of research
papers, authors, or journals in a particular field.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bibliometrics?
