De Groote, SL (De Groote, Sandra L.) Citation patterns of online and print journals in the digital age JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, 96 (4): 362-369 OCT 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: sgroote at uic.edu 

Author(s): De Groote, SL (De Groote, Sandra L.) 

Title: Citation patterns of online and print journals in the digital age 

Source: JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, 96 (4): 362-369 OCT 
2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Keywords Plus: UNIVERSITY; SERIALS; IMPACT; USAGE 

Abstract: Purpose: The research assesses the impact of online journals on 
citation patterns by examining whether researchers were more likely to 
limit the resources they cited to those journals available online rather 
than those only in print.
Setting: Publications from a large urban university with a medical college 
at an urban location and at a smaller regional location were examined. The 
number of online journals available to authors on either campus was the 
same. The number of print journals available on the large campus was much 
greater than the print journals available at the small campus.
Methodology: Searches by author affiliation from 1996 to 2005 were 
performed in the Web of Science to find all articles written by affiliated 
members in the college of medicine at the selected institution. Cited 
references from randomly selected articles were recorded, and the cited 
journals were coded into five categories based on their availability at 
the study institution: print only, print and online, online only, not 
owned, and dropped. Results were analyzed using SPSS. The age of articles 
cited for selected years as well as for 2006 and 2007 was also examined.
Results: The number of journals cited each year continued to increase. On 
the large urban campus, researchers were not more likely to cite journals 
available online or less likely to cite journals only in print. At the 
regional location, at which the number of print-only journals was minimal, 
use of print-only journals significantly decreased.
Conclusion/Discussion: The citation of print-only journals by researchers 
with access to a library with a large print and electronic collection 
appeared to continue, despite the availability of potential alternatives 
in the online collection. Journals available in electronic format were 
cited more frequently in publications from the campus whose library had a 
small print collection, and the citation of journals available in both 
print and electronic formats generally increased over the years studied. 

Addresses: Univ Illinois, Lib Hlth Sci Peoria, Peoria, IL 61656 USA 

Reprint Address: De Groote, SL, Univ Illinois, Lib Hlth Sci Peoria, POB 
1649,1 Illini Dr, Peoria, IL 61656 USA. 

E-mail Address: sgroote at uic.edu 

Cited Reference Count: 18 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOC 

Publisher Address: 65 EAST WACKER PLACE, STE 1900, CHICAGO, IL 60601-7298 
USA 

ISSN: 1536-5050 

DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.96.4.012 

29-char Source Abbrev.: J MED LIBR ASSOC 

ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Med. Libr. Assoc. 

Source Item Page Count: 8 

Subject Category: Information Science & Library Science 

ISI Document Delivery No.: 360GF 

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