Although a rich pool of online scholarly resources is now a mere click away, a recent study argues researchers are wallowing in an even smaller puddle of citations than ever before.
The study, which sampled 34 million citations to learn more about citational behavior in the sciences and social sciences, found the more issues a journal had posted online, the fewer individual citations from that journal, according to a July article in Science Magazine. The study’s author, James Evans of the University of Chicago, told the magazine his results could indicate a trend leading to easily garnered academic consensus and less debate.
Other experts offered opposing views of study results or reasons, such as search engine efficiency, that might account for a smaller selection of articles cited. An accompanying finding indicating older articles are eschewed for those with more recent publishing dates could be explained by the nature of electronic publishing itself, said one scientist whose research results were contrary to Evans.
The article and Evans report are available in Science Magazine online.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.