Reward or persuasion? The battle to define the meaning of a citation

[Loet Leydesdorff]

 > Whether "persuasive" or "explanatory", this use of citations seems to be
a rhetorical device. So you still have the dichtomy between those who define
citations as rewards, and those who see them as rhetorical devices.
 
Dear Bernie and colleagues, 
 
This is not merely a question of disciplinary affiliation because in the
same text the one citation can have rhetorical function and another an
explanatory. Olga Amsterdamska and I did two papers on this: one in which we
tried to classify functions of citation in the text, and a second one in
which we questionnaired the citing authors for their motivation for the
citation in these same terms.
 
Olga Amsterdamska & Loet Leydesdorff, Citations: Indicators of Significance,
Scientometrics 15(5/6) (1989) 449-471. 
 
Loet Leydesdorff and Olga Amsterdamska, Dimensions of Citation Analysis,
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/sthv90> Science, Technology and Human Values 15
(1990) 305-335. 
 
The questions can thus be made empirical. 
 
Best wishes, 
 
 
Loet 
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