Abstract
The goal of this study was to obtain insights into the citation process focusing on scientists' citing motivation. Dif ferent from most citation studies, the research findings were derived from directly questioning the Chinese physicists. This exploratory study revealed that the number of citations (termed as citation output ) a scientist cited in a publication was not directly associated with the essentiality of these citations (termed as citation essentiality) Instead. citation output was related to an external factor, while citation essen tiality was related to a number of internal motivations. As a result, a citation relationship model was established. The study shows that an author's citing behavior is unique, per sonal and complex. Further investigations are needed to artic ulate the nature and norms of this more-private-than-public process.
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