How can we investigate citation behavior? A study of reasons for citing literature in communication
✍ Scribed by Case, Donald O. ;Higgins, Georgeann M.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 83 KB
- Volume
- 51
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-8231
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Authors' motivations for citing documents are addressed through a literature review and an empirical study. Replicating an investigation in psychology, the works of two highly-cited authors in the discipline of communication were identified, and all of the authors who cited them during the period 1995-1997 were surveyed. The instrument posed 32 questions about why a certain document was cited, plus questions about the citer's relationship to the cited author and document. Most findings were similar to the psychology study, including a tendency to cite "concept markers" representing a genre of work. Authors in communication were more likely to have an interpersonal connection to cited authors, and to cite literature reviews-their most common reason for citation. Three types of judgments about cited works were found to best predict citation: (1) that the work was novel, well-known, and a concept-marker; (2) that citing it might promote the authority of one's own work; and (3) that the work deserved criticism. Suggestions are made for further research, especially regarding the anomalous role of creativity in cited works.