Transcript Citation analysis as an aid for collection management in

Information use in Sociology
Research: A case Study of the
Library, University of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka.
Chamani Gunasekera
Senior Assistant Librarian
University of Peradeniya
Sri Lanka
On 11 /12/2013
At
NACLIN 2013- Jaipur,India
Introduction
• Citation analysis is a branch of bibliometrics that
examines the citations found in publications such
as journals and books to look for patterns of use
• This type of study typically involves recording the
details of the reference lists of a number of
publications to determine what materials are
being consulted and
• then analyzing those materials by type,
frequency, age, local holdings, or other factors
Use of citation analysis
• By conducting a citation analysis, a researcher
can better understand scholarly
communication trends within a discipline,
• create bibliographies,
• analyze citation trends of specific user groups,
• determine the extent to which a library’s
collection meets researchers’ needs
Use of citation analysis
Citation analysis are used ;
to rank publications according to their
importance,
to identify core collections,
to measure the impact of publications,
and to study subject interrelationships
Citation analysis for theses
• Common approaches in the literature are to
analyze faculty publications or graduate student
theses for a particular department at a particular
institution.
• Items cited in students’ dissertations show the
resources they used in their dissertation research
and writing
• This type of analysis can yield valuable insights
into local citing trends, such as types and number
of documents cited, accuracy of citations, and
changes in citation patterns over time.
Use of Citation analysis for collection
development
• Effective collection development requires an
understanding of the research needs of users.
• Acquisition librarian should have an
understanding of faculty and student research
needs with academic background or
professional expertise in the field
Use of Citation analysis for collection
development
• Faculty research interests may be identified
from lists of faculty publications, faculty
handbooks, and faculty requests for material
purchases.
• Research needs of graduate students can be
more difficult to discern, but citation analysis
of theses can provide insight into the research
needs of graduate students.
Objectives of the study
• This study analyses citations from 14 master’s
and doctoral theses submitted to the University
of Peradeniya , Sri Lanka between 1995 and 2012
• It is undertaken to analyse the characteristics of
literature used by researchers in the field of
sociology.
• The present study will help the faculty and the
librarians in selection of core journals and other
sources in sociology.
University of Peradeniya, Library
University of Peradeniya, Library
Palm leaf Manuscripts with Wooden
Boards – 2360 Approx.
Reading Room II
Specific objectives of the study
To understand the citation potential of
the Sociology theses and to know the
various sources of information used by
the researchers in Sociology
 To find out the chronological distribution
and the language of the citations
To observe the nature of authorship
pattern in the literature of sociology
Specific objectives contd…..
To examine the applicability of Bradford's Law
of scattering to the pattern of journals used by
the researchers in Sociology
To examine the core journals of Sociology and
compile a ranking list of journals cited
 To study the distribution of journal citations
by subject and the country of origin
Methodology
• This citation analysis study focused on
Sociology Master and PhD dissertations
submitted to the University of Peradeniya
during period from 1995 to 2012.
• It has identified twelve(12) sociology master's
and two (2) PHD theses accepted at PDN
Library during the period
• Fourteen theses have total of 1603 citations
Methodology contd.
• Citations were extracted from the title pages
and reference lists of each of the dissertation
• The information relating to each citation i.e.,
number of citations, bibliographic form,
number of authors, name of the journal,
subject, country of origin and language were
concerned
Methodology contd.
• The data is fed into the computer using MSExcel software and the Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) for analysis
• The data were analysed using descriptive
statistics which includes frequency and
percentage presented in the tables
Data Analysis:
Frequency of citations
• Frequency distribution of citations potentials
is given below
No. of
citations
51-100
101-150
151-200
201-250
Total
No. of
theses
% of theses
51-100
5
6
1
36
43
07
2
14
14
100
101-150
151-200
201-250
Data Analysis:
Formats Used
• Materials were grouped into eight format categories for analysis:
1. journals (serials other than monographic series)
2. books,
3. conference proceedings
4. web resources,
5. reports (including government technical reports),
6 .government publications ,
7. theses and dissertations, and
8. miscellaneous (patents, personal communications, product
literature, software and software manuals, unpublished materials,
and other).
Results:
Citation According to format type
S
/
N
1
Material type
No. of citations
Percentage
Cumulative
percentage
Journals
356
22.2
22.2
2
Monographs
926
57.8
80.0
3
Conference proceedings
52
3.2
83.2
4
Reports
118
7.4
90.6
5
Theses & dissertations
29
1.8
92.4
6
Web resources
69
4.3
96.7
7
Government publications
23
1.4
98.1
8
Miscellaneous
30
1.9
100
1603
100
Total
Types of resources cited
Conference proceedings
3%
Reports
7%
Monographs
58%
Theses &
dissertations
2%
Web resources
4%
Other
8%
Government publications
2%
Journals
22%
Miscellaneous
2%
Difference between Print citations
and Electronic citations
Form
No. of
citations
Print vs Electronics
Print
1485
percentag
e
94
Electronic
118
06
Total
1603
100
Electronic
6%
print
94%
Chronological distribution of citations
• The duration of the whole period was divided
into 12 sections as shown in the Table
Chronological distribution of citations
S/N Period of citations
No. of citations
Percentage
Cumulative
percentage
1
Before 1800
5
0.3
0.3
2
1801-1826
1
0.1
0.4
3
1853-1878
5
0.3
0.7
4
1879-1904
9
0.6
1.2
5
1905- 1930
22
1.4
2.6
6
1931-1956
53
3.3
5.9
7
1957-1982
458
28.6
34.5
8
1983-1988
209
13.0
47.6
9
1989-1994
282
17.6
65.2
10
1995-2000
284
17.7
82.9
11
2001-2006
223
13.9
96.8
12
2007-2010
22
1.4
98.2
13
Unknown
30
1.8
100
Total
100
Chronological distribution of citations
35
30
No.of citations
25
20
15
Series1
10
5
0
Year range
Chronological distribution of citations Results
• the highest citations were recorded in the period
from 1957 to 1982 with 458 citation counts (
34%)
• 94% of citations were published after 1957
• Five citations that published before 1800 were
found in the Sociology dissertations
• the oldest reference materials in the dissertation
was a monograph which published in 1681
named “An Historical Relation of Ceylon”
Material Age
• Age is the length of time reference materials have
existed and it is usually measured in years
• For calculating the age the difference between
the date of the citation and the date of the
publication in which it was cited considered for
this study.
• Understanding the extent to which library users
rely on older materials can be useful in
determining which materials can be moved to
remote storage
Age of citations
• The age of citations were put into 11
categories: same year, 1year, 2-5, 6-10, 11-20,
21-30, 31-40, 41-50,51-100, more than 100
and Unknown. The results on the age of
citations are presented in the next Figure
Age of citations
500
450
400
350
300
No.of citations 250
200
150
100
50
0
Age of citations by percentage
35
30
25
20
% of citations
15
10
5
0
Age of citations-results
• the peak of the age of citations was 11 to 20
years.
• 29% of citations are 20 years old or less than
10 years in age.
• More than 70% of citations are 20 years old or
less in age and 83% of citations are less than
30 years
Distribution of citations in terms of
Language
This study also examines the language of the
publications cited in order to find the
preferences of sociology researchers on local
or foreign literature.
The total number of 1603 citations was
distributed among 3 different languages
Language wise distribution of citations
Language
Frequency
Frequency %
Cumulative %
English
1404
87.58
87.58
Sinhalese
194
12.11
99.69
other
05
0.31
100
Total
1603
Authorship pattern- degree of
collaboration
• Collaborative research is the effort of intellectual
sharing of two or more persons.
• The extent of collaboration can be measured
with the help of multi authored papers using the
formula given by Subramanym. (1983)
C=NM/ NM+ NS ( C=degree of collaboration in a
discipline, NM= No. of multi authored
papers, NS= No. of single authored papers)
• C=232/1603=0.144
Degree of collaboration
• The degree of collaboration in the field of
sociology of the present study is 0.144 which
is contrast with the results of previous studies
carried out for the sociology theses. Degree of
collaboration of that study was 0.56.
(Zarunnisha,2012)
Authorship pattern of literature cited
Number of Authors
Frequency
Single Author
1372
Frequency % Cumulative
%
85.5
85.6
Two Authors
164
10.2
95.6
Three
38
2.5
98.3
Four
22
1.3
99.6
Five
5
0.3
99.6
More than five
2
0.2
100.0
Total
1603
Authorship pattern- Results
• As explicit in the above table the single
authorship is most prominent.
• More than 85% of the citations are single
authored with 10% having two authors and
2.5% having three authors.
• It further shows that only 1.7% frequency
from total citations had more than three
authors
Journal Citations- Application of
Bradford’s Law
• Journals are vital resources for disseminating results of
new knowledge gained from the research in any
subject field.
• Therefore the journals were further analysed in order
to determine the most cited titles in the sociology
theses.
• This Sociology thesis study contained 356 journal
citations from 139 journal titles. The journals were
placed into three zones according to Bradford’s Law of
journal scattering. (Bradford, 1948)
Percentage of no. of journals and
citations in each Bradford zone
Zone
1
No. of
journals
12
No. of
citations
127
% of
journal
8.6
% of
citations
35.7
2
21
88
15.1
24.7
3
106
141
76.3
39.6
Total
139
356
100
100
Journals in the First Zone
S/N Journal Name
No. of citations
Cumulative
Rank
1
Economic Review
31
31
1
2
World development
14
45
2
3
American Sociological Review
11
56
3
4
Gender and Society
10
66
4
5
American Journal of Sociology
09
75
5
6
International Migration Review
09
84
5
7
American Anthropologist
08
92
6
8
Modern Ceylon studies
07
99
7
9
Population & Development review
07
106
7
10
Development and Change
07
113
7
11
Sri Lanka journal of Social sciences
07
120
7
12
The Journal of Asian Studies
07
127
7
Core journals of sociology
• According to the application of Bradford’s Law,
12 journals are considered as core journals.
• Journals in the second zones encompass 88
citations in 21 journals.
Second Zone of the journals
S/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
Journal name
Feminist Review
JCBRAS
Samaja Wimasuma
Social Science Medical
American economic review
Asia Survey
No. of citations
6
6
6
5
5
5
Cumulative
6
12
18
23
28
33
Rank
8
8
8
9
9
9
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
American Jl. of public health
Ceylon Jl.of historical& social studies
Gender & society
Jl. of international development
Journal of peasant studies
Ceylon Antiquary
Jl. of contempary Asia
Jl.of development economics
American Ethnologist
Asia pacific migration Jl.
Ceylon medical Jl.
Marga
Pravada
Current Sociology
International Migration
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
37
41
45
49
53
57
61
65
69
73
76
79
82
85
88
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
Ranking and Scattering of Journals
• The rank list of journals in the field of sociology reveals
that journal citations cited by researchers are scattered
among 139 journals.
• Among them, “Economic Review” secured the first
rank for being cited more number of times with 9 % of
total journal citations, followed by “ World
Development (4%) and “ American Sociological Review
(3%).
• The first 12 journals in the rank list contribute nearly
35% of total journal citations.
Ranking and Scattering of Journals
• The first 32 journals in the rank list contribute
nearly 60% of total journal citations.
• These 32 journals can be considered as mostly
used journals by the sociology researchers.
• the third zone had the remaining 35 journal
titles with 2 citations each and 71 journal
titles with one citation each.
• 53% of the journal titles has only one citation
Subject wise distribution of Journals
cited
S/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Subject
Sociology
Economics
Anthropology
Social work
Psychology
Public administration
Geography
Medicine
Political science
Education
Science
Community development
Youth & adolescent
Family Planning
Humanities
Women Studies
law
History
Population studies
Agriculture
International development
Other
Unidentified
Total
Frequency
93
75
12
1
1
1
5
18
13
1
4
13
1
4
6
8
2
21
13
4
6
20
34
356
Percentage
25.9
20.9
3.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
1.4
5.0
3.6
0.3
1.1
3.6
0.3
1.1
1.7
2.2
0.6
5.8
3.6
1.1
1.7
5.6
10.3
100.0
Cumulative percentage
25.9
46.8
50.1
50.4
50.7
51.0
52.4
57.4
61.0
61.3
62.4
66.0
66.3
67.4
69.1
71.3
71.9
77.7
81.3
82.4
84.1
89.7
100
Subject wise distribution
• 26% of journal citations were on sociology
followed by 21% were on economics.
Geographical location of Journals cited
Geographical
location
Frequency
Percentage
Foreign
259
72.8
Local
97
27.2
Total
356
100
Geographical location of Journals
cited-Results
• The foreign journals are predominating in the
sociology dissertations with having 73% of
journal citations
• The results give insight that sociology
researchers prefer to use foreign journals.
Conclusion
• The findings indicate that the monograph is
the predominant format for sociology
research.
• They support the conclusion drawn in
previous studies that humanities and social
sciences research relies on monographs,
whereas research in the natural sciences and
technology relies on journal articles.
Conclusion
• This study supports the conclusion of previous
studies that cited resources in sociology
research have a longer and flatter age
distribution than in the natural sciences.
• The English language is predominating in the
literature.
Conclusion
• The single authorship appeared most in the
citations while having 97% of cited items in
the print format.
• The findings further identified the core
journals in the sociology discipline
• The most of the journal cited in the theses
were published in foreign countries.
References
• Bradford, S.C ( 1948) Documentation Crosby Lackwood:
London
• Subramanyam, K (1983) Bibliometric studies of research
collaboration : A review . Journal of Information science
6(3): 23-26
• Zafrunnisha, N (2012) Citations in the Sociology doctoral
dissertations: A quantitative analysis. International Journal
of Information Dissemination and Technology 2(3): 212-218
Any questions please?
Thank you !