An Examination of Citation Counts in a New Scholarly Communication Environment

摘要

Citationanalysisisanimportanttoolusedtotracescholarlyresearch,measureimpact,andjustifytenureandfundingdecisions.WebofScience,whichindexespeer-reviewedjournalliterature,hasbeenthemajorresearchdatabaseforcitationtracking.Changesinscholarlycommunication,includingpreprint/postprintservers,technicalreportsavailableviatheinternet,andopenaccesse-journalsaredevelopingrapidly,andtraditionalcitationtrackingusingWebofSciencemaymissmuchofthisnewactivity.Twonewtoolsarenowavailabletocountcitations:ScopusandGoogleScholar.ThispaperpresentsacasestudycomparingthecitationcountsprovidedbyWebofScience,Scopus,andGoogleScholarforarticlesfromtheJournaloftheAmericanSocietyforInformationScienceandTechnology(JASIST)publishedin1985andin2000usingapairedt-testtodeterminestatisticalsignificance.WebofScienceprovidedthelargestcitationcountsforthe1985articles,althoughthiscouldnotbetestedstatistically.ForJASISTarticlespublishedin2000,GoogleScholarprovidedstatisticallysignificanthighercitationcountsthaneitherWebofScienceorScopus,whiletherewasnosignificantdifferencebetweenWebofScienceandScopus.Theimplicationsformeasuringimpactinachangingscholarlycommunicationenvironmentareexamined.