Lariviere V, Archambault E, Gingras Y, Vignola-Gagne E "The place of serials in referencing practices: Comparing natural sciences and engineering with social sciences and humanities " JASIST 57 (8): 997-1004 JUN 2006

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Addresses:
Vincent Lariviere : lariviere.vincent at uqam.ca
Eric Archambault  : eric.archambault at science-metrix.com
Yves Gingras      : gingras.yves at uqam.ca
Etienne Vignola-Gagne: etienne.vignolagagne at science-metrix.com


Title: The place of serials in referencing practices: Comparing natural
sciences and engineering with social sciences and humanities

Author(s): Lariviere V, Archambault E, Gingras Y, Vignola-Gagne E

Source: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY 57 (8): 997-1004 JUN 2006

Document Type: Article
Language: English
Cited References: 18      Times Cited: 0

Abstract:
Journal articles constitute the core documents for the diffusion of
knowledge in the natural sciences. It has been argued that the same is not
true for the social sciences and humanities where knowledge is more often
disseminated in monographs that are not indexed in the journal-based
databases used for bibliometric analysis. Previous studies have made only
partial assessments of the role played by both serials and other types of
literature. The importance of journal literature in the various scientific
fields has therefore not been systematically characterized. The authors
address this issue by providing a systematic measurement of the role played
by journal literature in the building of knowledge in both the natural
sciences and engineering and the social sciences and humanities. Using
citation data from the CD-ROM versions of the Science Citation Index (SCI),
Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts and Humanities Citation
Index (AHCI) databases from 1981 to 2000 (Thomson ISI, Philadelphia, PA),
the authors quantify the share of citations to both serials and other types
of literature. Variations in time and between fields are also analyzed. The
results show that journal literature is increasingly important in the
natural and social sciences, but that its role in the humanities is
stagnant and has even tended to diminish slightly in the 1990s. Journal
literature accounts for less than 50% of the citations in several
disciplines of the social sciences and humanities; hence, special care
should be used when using bibliometric indicators that rely only on journal
literature.


Addresses: Lariviere V (reprint author), Univ Quebec, CIRST, OST, Sci
Metrix Inc, CP 8888,Succ Ctr Ville, Montreal, PQ H3C 3P8 Canada
Univ Quebec, CIRST, OST, Sci Metrix Inc, Montreal, PQ H3C 3P8 Canada
Sci Metrix Inc, Montreal, PQ Canada

E-mail Addresses: lariviere.vincent at uqam.ca, eric.archambault at science-
metrix.com, gingras.yves at uqam.ca, etienne.vignolagagne at science-metrix.com

Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS INC, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030 USA
Subject Category: COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS; INFORMATION
SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

IDS Number: 049GW
ISSN: 1532-2882

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