Problems of citation analysis:​ a critical review

MacRoberts, Michael H.; MacRoberts, Barbara R.

Affiliations

¹740 Columbia, Shreveport, Louisiana 71104

Abstract

We review the problems of citation analysis. Most of them have either not been studied or have received only cursory attention. Since major error results when these problems are not taken into account, users of citation-based literature should proceed cautiously.

Links

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(198909)40:5<342::AID-ASI7>3.0.CO;2-U

WoS: A1989AQ26600007

History

Received: 1986-12-24

Revised: 1987-02-02

Accepted: 1987-03-10

Online: 2007-05-27

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
1986	MacRoberts MH, MacRoberts BR. Quantitative measures of communication in science: a study of the formal level. Soc Stud Sci. February 1986;16(1):151-172.
1977	Gilbert GN. Referencing as persuasion. Soc Stud Sci. February 1977;7(1):113-122.
1981	Smith LC. Citation analysis. Libr Trends. Summer, 1981;30(1):83-106.

Cited By (11)

Year	Entry
2014	Schelfhout S. Sense and Nonsense of Self-Citation Research: Top 200 Publishing Authors in Psychology [Master's thesis]. Gent, Belgium: Universiteit Gent; 2014.
1997	Seglen PO. Citations and journal impact factors: questionable indicators of research quality. Allergy. 1997;52(11):1050-1056.
1998	Snyder H, Bonzi S. Patterns of self-citation across disciplines (1980-1989). J Info Sci. December 1998;24(6):431-435.
2003	Tobin MJ. Impact factor and the journal. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003;168(6):621-622.
1997	Seglen PO. Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research. BMJ. 1997;314(7079):498-502.
2001	White HD. Authors as citers over time. J Am Soc Inform Sci Technol. 2001;52(2):87-108.
2012	Shibata N, Kajikawa Y, Sakata I. Link prediction in citation networks. J Am Soc Inform Sci Technol. January 2012;63(1):78-85.
2022	Chen L, Ding J, Larivière V. Measuring the citation context of national self-references. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol. May 2022;73(5):671-686.
2008	Bornmann L, Daniel H-D. What do citation counts measure? a review of studies on citing behavior. J Document. 2008;64(1):45-80.
2019	Wen F. Study on the research evolution of Nobel laureates 2018 based on self-citation network. J Document. 2019;75(6):1415-1431.
2010	Tang L, Walsh JP. Bibliometric fingerprints: name disambiguation based on approximate structure equivalence of cognitive maps. Scientometrics. September 2010;84(3):763-784.