Citation Analysis Debate

Use of citation analysis as a method for determining the quality of research raises a variety of questions and concerns. Though it is possible to assess research based on the number of times that a published work is cited, this quantitative measure is not without controversy. Though most would agree that the times cited analysis is a useful critereon, many believe that it should not be used as a unique indicator of quality, nor should it replace the more informal methods of peer recognition traditionally used by the scholarly community. Following are links to articles which provide a flavor of this ongoing debate.

Adam, David. (2002). Citation analysis: The counting house. Nature 415: 726 - 729. Full-text access for this article is available to Auburn students, faculty or staff from Journals@Ovid [Search article title for quick access.]

Garfield, E. (1997) Validation of Citation Analysis [Letter]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(10): 962.

MacRoberts, M. (1997) Rejoinder [Letter in reply to Garfield, E. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(10): 962]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(10): 963.

MacRoberts, M. H. & MacRoberts, B. R. (1988). Problems of citation analysis: A critical review. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40(5): 342-9. Full-text access for this article is available to Auburn students, faculty or staff from Wiley InterScience [Search article title for quick access.]

MacRoberts, M. H. & MacRoberts, B. R. (1997) Brief communication. Citation content analysis of a botany journal. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(3): 274-275. Full-text access for this article is available to Auburn students, faculty or staff from Wiley InterScience [Search article title for quick access.]

Reed, Kathlyn L. Citation analysis of faculty publication: beyond Science citation index and Social science citation index. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association v. 83 (Oct. '95) p. 503-8.