FW: Article on citing practices

Fri Jul 18 12:36:39 EDT 2008

See also:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111928&govDel=USNSF_51

Christina K. Pikas, MLS 
R.E. Gibson Library & Information Center
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 
Voice  240.228.4812 (Washington), 443.778.4812 (Baltimore) 
Fax 443.778.5353 

-----Original Message-----
From: PAMnet [mailto:PAMNET at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Molly White
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 12:30 PM
To: PAMNET at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Article on citing practices

 From today's Chronicle of Higher Education:
<http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/07/3870n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=e
n>Access
to Online Journals Is Found to Reduce Breadth of Citations

Despite having access to more and more journal articles online, scholars
are citing fewer and fewer discrete articles in their papers, according
to a study published today in "Science."

The intro: : http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/321/5887/395
>
>Electronic Publication and the Narrowing of Science and Scholarship
>
>
>
>James A. Evans
>
>Online journals promise to serve more information to more dispersed 
>audiences and are more efficiently searched and recalled. But because 
>they are used differently than print-scientists and scholars tend to 
>search electronically and follow hyperlinks rather than browse or 
>peruse-electronically available journals may portend an ironic change 
>for science. Using a database of 34 million articles, their citations 
>(1945 to 2005), and online availability (1998 to 2005), I show that as 
>more journal issues came online, the articles referenced tended to be 
>more recent, fewer journals and articles were cited, and more of those 
>citations were to fewer journals and articles. The forced browsing of 
>print archives may have stretched scientists and scholars to anchor 
>findings deeply into past and present scholarship. Searching online is 
>more efficient and following hyperlinks quickly puts researchers in 
>touch with prevailing opinion, but this may accelerate consensus and 
>narrow the range of findings and ideas built upon.
>
>Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, 
>Chicago, IL60615, USA. E-mail: 
><mailto:jevans at uchicago.edu>jevans at uchicago.edu

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