WOS and SCOPUS do
not index total research published world over in their databases. Their
coverage is selective especially from India and other developing countries.
WOS index 45 journals from India in 2008. Hence, citation data results must
be analyzed and interpreted keeping in view this limitation of citation
databases.
Citations count is in
reality a measure of interests by researchers in the cited work; it is a
measure of the influence of the cited work on the citing work. The quality
of cited work may or may not be the basis of its influence on the citing
work. The results from citation analysis should be interpreted in this
spirit only.
Citation data is not
meant or designed to replace or substitute peer reviews or evaluation by
experts. It only seeks to complement such qualitative evaluations by experts
with quantitative methods.
Many conditions can
influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format,
publication schedule, and subject specialty. For example, the size of the
research community which varies from discipline to discipline influence
citations and accordingly average citation counts will vary from discipline
to discipline. Careful attention should be paid to these conditions while
comparing citation data across disciplines.
Citation data or any
derivative quantitative indicators are neutral. Their value and usefulness
actually lies in the appropriate interpretation of the data.
What is H-index?
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