Citation Classification Research Articles

Reducing Workload in Systematic Review Preparation Using Automated Citation Classification

ObjectiveTo determine whether automated classification of document citations can be useful in reducing the time spent by experts reviewing journal articles for inclusion in updating systematic reviews of drug class efficacy for treatment of disease. DesignA test collection was built using the annotated reference files from 15 systematic drug class reviews. A voting perceptron-based automated citation classification system was constructed to classify each article as containing high-quality, drug class–specific evidence or not. Cross-validation experiments were performed to evaluate performance. MeasurementsPrecision, recall, and F-measure were evaluated at a range of sample weightings. Work saved over sampling at 95% recall was used as the measure of value to the review process. ResultsA reduction in the number of articles needing manual review was found for 11 of the 15 drug review topics studied. For three of the topics, the reduction was 50% or greater. ConclusionAutomated document citation classification could be a useful tool in maintaining systematic reviews of the efficacy of drug therapy. Further work is needed to refine the classification system and determine the best manner to integrate the system into the production of systematic reviews.

Citation Analysis and Discourse Analysis Revisited

John Swales's 1986 article ‘Citation analysis and discourse analysis’ was written by a discourse analyst to introduce citation research from other fields, mainly sociology of science, to his own discipline. Here, I introduce applied linguists and discourse analysts to citation studies from information science, a complementary tradition not emphasized by Swales. Using replicable biblio‐metric techniques, I show that interdisciplinary ties have grown among citation researchers from discourse analysis, sociology of science, and information science in the years since Swales wrote. Key authors, journals, articles, and books are presented in tables based on cocitation data from the Institute for Scientific Information. While theoretical integration of the different strands of research is far from complete, this article carries the effort forward by reviewing contributions from the 1970s to the present in three major lines of research: citation classification, content analysis of citation contexts, and studies of citer motivations. I pay particular attention to ideas that bear on teaching the art of citing—for example, in courses in English for research purposes—and to controversies in citation research of interest to discourse analysts.

Citation Autobiography: An Investigation of ISI Database Coverage in Determining Author Citedness

This article presents a case study investigating the coverage completeness of the Institute for Scientific Information’s citation data for specific authors, based on analysis of this author’s lifetime citation record, which was compiled through the ISI database, searching the literature for nearly fifteen years, and through various Web search engines. It was found that (with self-citations disregarded) the ISI captured 28.8 percent of the total citations, 42.2 percent of print citations, 20.3 percent of citations from outside the United States, and 2.3 percent of non-English citations. The definition and classification of Web citations are discussed. It is suggested that librarians and faculty should not rely solely on ISI author citation counts, especially when demonstration of international impact is important.

On the shoulders of Robert Merton: Towards a normative theory of citation

In a series of seminal studies Robert K. Merton created a coherent theoretical view of the social system of science that includes the salient features of the formal publication system, thereby providing a theoretical basis for scientometrics and citationology. A fundamental precept of this system is the view of citations as symbolic payment of intellectual debts. When this concept is merged with a complementary theory of the conceptual symbolism of citations, the possibility for a rapprochement of the normative and constructivist theories is achieved, where the dual function of citations as vehicles of peer recognition and constructed symbols for specific original achievements in science is realized. This new synthesis is embodied in a citation classification system, the citation cube, with dimensions of normative compliance, symbolic consensus, and disinterestedness (self-citation).

Dental materials citations: Part B, July to December 1996

A search was conducted in biomedical journals from July 1996 to December 1996 to identify dental materials publications and sort them into major categories. They were compared by frequency in different journals and in different categories during recent years. Tables of contents for 16 primary and 51 secondary journals were inspected from July to December of 1996 and were divided into 17 categories. The frequencies of citations for primary journals and for different citation categories were examined over a four-year period from 1993 to 1996. There were 334 total citations from July to December 1996. The greatest number of citations continued to involve bonding (n = 159) and resin-based (composites; glass ionomers) restorative materials (n = 158). The numbers of articles by journal and by category were very similar over the last four years. The average number of articles per year was 531 ± 15. The literature citations compiled in this list provide a supplement for researchers and academicians to the current electronic databases.

Citation Context Classification of a Citation Classic Concerning Citation Context Classification

The citations to a citation classic dealing with the classification of citations according to their contexts were analyzed using the method of that citation classic. It was found that (a) the ratio of conceptual to operational citations is very much larger than in the cases studied before in the natural sciences; (b) the ratio of evolutionary to juxtapositional citations is much smaller than in the cases studied before in the natural sciences. The results are interpreted in terms of the following conclusions: (1) the technique of the original paper has been little used directly; (2) the specific results of the original applications of the original paper have been used to some extent as evidence; and (3) the conceptual idea of the original paper has been used in general to stimulate further, refined, and alternate investigations in scientometrics.

The Use of Citations in Literary Research: A Preliminary Classification of Citation Functions

Citation studies have been concerned primarily with the properties of cited workds. The analysis of citation functions is undoubtedly more complex than this, but it can reveal information about research processes. A key problem in such an analysis is the design of categories to be used to classify citation functions. A few schemes have been created for the classification of citation functions in scientific publications. This article examines these schemes and considers differences in research methods between scientific and humanistic disciplines which might have an influence on citation practices. A scheme for the classification of citations in literary research is proposed as a preliminary model. Findings are presented from the results of the application of this scheme to a sample of publications in German literary research.

Citation patterns in little science and big science

The classification of citations by their context, previously formulated and used for other studies, is employed here to see if the citation patterns of big and little science are different or not. Theoretical physics articles in 1935 and 1955 are thus compared. No significant differences were found except in the number of references per article which increased significantly from 1935 to 1955, and again to 1968. It is found, however, that the German journal Zeitschrift fur Physik has considerably higher percentages of conceptual, organic, and evolutionary citations, both in 1935 and in 1955, than The Physical Review. The interpretation of this difference remains unclear.

Variation of the nature of citation measures with journals and scientific specialties

AbstractThe classification of scientific citations according to their quality and function, established in a previous paper, is strengthened by tests of its reproducibility and universality. The method is then applied to articles in various specialties of theoretical physics published in various journals, and conclusions are drawn about differences by specialty and by geographical areas. Specifically, it is shown for the sample investigated (a) that the number of papers referred to per article is much lower for Soviet journals than for European, US, or Japanese journals; (b) that this number is much lower for solid state physics than for high energy or nuclear physics; (c) that US journals have a higher percentage of conceptual citations, and a much higher percentage of organic citations than Soviet journals; (d) that the Soviet Journal of Nuclear Physics has citation patterns markedly different than the other two Soviet journals investigated and is rather similar to that of the US journals; (e) that high energy physics shows a significantly higher percentage of organic citations and a somewhat higher percentage of evolutionary citations than either nuclear physics or solid state physics. Some speculations are presented to “explain” these effects.