Rethlefsen ML, Wallis LCPublic health citation patterns: an analysis of the American Journal of Public Health, 2003-2005 JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 95 (4): 408-415 OCT 2007

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Addresses: mlrethlefsen at gmail.com, l-wallis at neiu.edu 

Title: Public health citation patterns: an analysis of the American 
Journal of Public Health, 2003-2005 

Author(s): Rethlefsen ML (Rethlefsen, Melissa L.), Wallis LC (Wallis, Lisa 
C.) 

Source: JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 95 (4): 408-415 OCT 
2007 

Document Type: Article 
Language: English 

Cited References: 43      Times Cited: 0
        
Abstract: Objectives: The research sought to determine the publication 
types cited most often in public health as well as the most heavily cited 
journal titles. 
Methods: From a pool of 33,449 citations in 934 articles published in the 
2003-2005 issues of American Journal of Public Health, 2 random samples 
were drawn: one (n = 1,034) from the total set of citations and one (n = 
1,016) from the citations to journal articles. For each sampled citation, 
investigators noted publication type, publication date, uniform resource 
locator (URL) citation (yes/no), and, for the journal article sample, 
journal titles. The cited journal titles were analyzed using Bradford 
zones.

Results: The majority of cited items from the overall sample of 1,034 
items were journal articles (64.4%, n = 666), followed by government 
documents (n 130), books (n = 122), and miscellaneous sources (n = 116). 
Publication date ranged from 1826-2005 (mean = 1995, mode = 2002). Most 
cited items were between 0 and 5 years old (50.3%, n = 512). In the sample 
of 1,016 journal article citations, a total of 387 journal titles were 
cited.

Discussion: Analysis of cited material types revealed results similar to 
citation analyses in specific public health disciplines, including use of 
materials from a wide range of disciplines, reliance on miscellaneous and 
government documents, and need for older publications.

KeyWords Plus: BIBLIOGRAPHIC IMPACT-FACTOR; BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS; 
RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY; INFECTIOUS-DISEASES; MEDICINE JOURNALS; INFORMATION 
USE; TRENDS; FIELD; LIST 

Addresses: Rethlefsen ML (reprint author), Mayo Clin Lib, 200 1st St SW, 
Rochester, MN 55905 USA
Mayo Clin Lib, Rochester, MN 55905 USA
NE Illinois Univ, Ronald Williams Lib, Chicago, IL 60625 USA

E-mail Addresses: mlrethlefsen at gmail.com, l-wallis at neiu.edu 

Publisher: MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOC, 65 EAST WACKER PLACE, STE 1900, CHICAGO, 
IL 60601-7298 USA 
Subject Category: Information Science & Library Science 

ISSN: 1536-5050 

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