Chu, H; Krichel, T, Downloads vs. citations in economics: Relationships, contributing factors and beyond PROCEEDINGS OF ISSI 2007: 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ISSI, VOLS I AND II. 2007. p.207-215

[Eugene Garfield]

Email: hchu at liu.edu

Author(s): Chu, H (Chu, Heting); Krichel, T (Krichel, Thomas)
 
Title: Downloads vs. citations in economics: Relationships, contributing 
factors and beyond 

Editor(s): TorresSalinas, D; Moed, HF 

Source: PROCEEDINGS OF ISSI 2007: 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE 
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SCIENTOMETRICS AND INFORMETRICS, VOLS I AND II 
207-215, 2007 

Language: English 
Document Type: Article 

Cited Reference Count: 16 

Conference Title: 11th International Conference of the International-
Society-for-Scientrometrics-and-Informetrics 

Conference Date: JUN 25-27, 2007 

Conference Location: Madrid, SPAIN 

Conference Sponsors: Int Soc Scientrometr & Informetr, CSIC, Minist Educ & 
Ciencia, FECYT, Comunidad Madrid, Eugene Garfield Fdn, Thomson Sci, 
Elsevier, Journal Informetr, Scopus, Ayuntamiento Madrid, Sci Metrix, Univ 
Carlos III Madrid 

Author Keywords: digital libraries; downloads; citations; usage analysis; 
Google Scholar 

KeyWords Plus: WEB-OF-SCIENCE; GOOGLE-SCHOLAR; IMPACT 

Abstract: Citations to 200 top downloaded papers at RePEc, a digital 
library in economics, were obtained from SSCI and Google Scholar 
respectively to address questions relating to downloads and their 
corresponding citations. This study finds that top downloaded documents 
are used in various degrees when citation is regarded as an indicator of 
usage. The results also show that a single downloaded paper selected for 
this study on average receives twice as many citations from Google Scholar 
as that from SSCI although the latter has been established much earlier in 
time. According to the coefficients computed, downloads appear having a 
moderate relationship with citations. However, other measures such as the 
download-citation ratio indicate a stronger connection between the two. 
While an author's reputation positively affects both download and citation 
frequencies, other factors (e.g., targeted readers and subject content) 
seem in play differently for the documents that are repeatedly downloaded 
or cited. The study suggests that an infrastructure which encourages 
downloading at digital libraries could lead to higher usage of their 
resources. 
Addresses: Long Isl Univ, Palmer Sch Lib & Informat Sci, Greenvale, NY 
11548 USA. 

Publisher Name: INT SOC SCIENTOMETRICS & INFORMETRICS-ISSI 
Publisher Address: KATHOLIEKE UNIV LEUVEN, FACULTEIT E T E W, DEKENSTRAAT 
2, LEUVEN, B-3000, BELGIUM 

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