Current Data and Key Literature on UnCited Scholarship

[Quentin L. Burrell]

Readers interested in these aspects of the citation process should note that
the paper of mine mentioned in Gerry's list is a taster for a much more
substantial piece:
"Predicting future citation behaviour" JASIS&T 54(5), 372-378, 2003.

Both papers are theoretical and demand to be tested against what is actually
observed. The basic research idea is to replicate earlier studies on
circulations of library books in the context of citations.The invitation is
still open!

Quentin Burrell
[mailto:q.burrell at ibs.ac.im]

-----Original Message-----
From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics
[mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU]On Behalf Of Sloan, Bernie
Sent: 06 May 2003 20:16
To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
Subject: [SIGMETRICS] Current Data and Key Literature on UnCited
Scholarship


Thought some of you might be interested in this...

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Mckiernan [mailto:gerrymck at iastate.edu]
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 1:23 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Current Data and Key Literature on UnCited Scholarship

    _Current Data and Key Literature on UnCited Scholarship_

   I am greatly interested in current data and key literature on UnCited
Scholarship. I have searched Google and found several select items, for
example:

David P. Hamilton (1990). "Publishing by and for?-  the numbers
_Science_, New Series, 250 (4986) (December 7): 1331-1332.
[ http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/hamilton1.html  ]

David P. Hamilton (1991). "Research papers: who's uncited now?,"
_Science_, New Series,  251 (4989) (January 4):  25.
[http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/hamilton2.html ]

John A. Tainer; Helmut A. Abt; Lowell L. Hargens; David M. Bott; F. W.
Lancaster; James H. Pannell; Edward B. Nuhfer; Charles L. McGehee; William
A. Banks; David A. Pendlebury (1991) "Science, citation, and funding,"
_Science_  251 (5000) (March 22):1408-1411.
[http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/pendlebury.html  ]

Eugene Garfield (1998). "Commentary: I had a dream ... about
uncitedness," _The Scientist_ 12 (14) (July 6): 10.
[http://www.the-scientist.com/yr1998/July/comm_980706.html  ]

Quentin L.Burrell (2002). "Will this paper ever be cited?," _Journal of the
American Society for Information Science and Technology_ 53(3)(February):
232-2002

For a homogenous set of papers given the average rate at which a paper
attracts citations, Burrell calculates the probability that a paper will
ever be cited assuming it has not been cited in a given time. The longer the
elapsed time without citation the greater the likelihood it will never be
cited.
[ http://www.asis.org/Publications/JASIS/vol53n03.html ]

Charles A. Schwartz (1997). "The rise and fall of uncitedness," _College &
Research Libraries_ 58: (January): 19-29.

Large-scale uncitedness refers to the remarkable proportion of articles that
do not receive a single citation within five years of publication. Equally
remarkable is the brief and troubled history of this area of inquiry, which
was prone to miscalculation, misinterpretation, and politicization. This
article reassesses large-scale uncitedness as both a general phenomenon in
the scholarly communication system and a case study of library and
information science, where its rate is 72 percent.

[http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Publications/Journals_Monogr
aphic_Series/College_and_Research_Libraries/Back_Issues_1997/January97/CandR
L_January_1997_abstracts.htm ]

***********************************************************
 I am also (particularly)  interested in Any and All articles / reports
/studies / documents relating to the value of conventional Peer Review
within the context of Uncitedness of Peer Viewed publications [Please do not
crucify me for raising the issue]:-)
***********************************************************

   As Always, Any and All contributions, comments, questions, critiques,
Government Rebuilding Contracts, and/or Cosmic Insights are Most Welcome.

  Regards,

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Current and Key Librarian
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu