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04:42
Micro-scale Engineering for Cell Biology
Published on: October 1, 2007
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Large-scale analysis of micro-level citation patterns reveals nuanced selection criteria
Julia Poncela-Casasnovas1, Martin Gerlach1, Nathan Aguirre1
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Nature Human Behaviour
|April 17, 2019
Summary
Citation analysis in scientific research is evolving. This study reveals that high-impact papers cite younger, more frequently cited references, indicating citation context matters for research evaluation.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Scientometrics
- Scholarly Communication
Background:
- Citation analysis is a key metric for evaluating researcher impact, despite known limitations.
- Traditionally, citations are viewed as direct endorsements, overlooking contextual nuances.
- Limited databases hindered the study of citation context and paper success.
Discussion:
- This research analyzes citation usage across 156,558 Public Library of Science (PLoS) articles.
- It traces bibliometric histories using 60 million records from Web of Science.
- Universal patterns in citation usage across different paper sections were identified.
Key Insights:
- Citation patterns vary significantly based on the citing paper's impact.
- High-impact publications preferentially cite younger, more established references.
- This suggests that the context and characteristics of citations influence their perceived value.
Outlook:
- Further research can refine citation metrics by incorporating contextual factors.
- Developing richer databases will enable more nuanced bibliometric analysis.
- This work provides a quantitative foundation for understanding the varying significance of scientific citations.
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