Brief Lecture for BIOL 388, Parasitology

1. Citations
Why do scholars cite the things they cite?

2. Conceptual vs. Operational
• A reference can refer to • The evolutionary lineage
a concept, theory, or described by Smith
idea in an original paper (2009) suggests that...
• A reference can also • Using the multivariate
refer to a technique, statistical techniques
method or piece of developed by Jones
equipment used in (1985) we analyzed...
another study
Moravcsik, M. J., & Murugesan, P. (1975). Some Results on the Function and Quality of Citations. Social studies of
science, 5(1), 86-92. Sage Publications. Retrieved from http://sss.sagepub.com/content/5/1/86.full.pdf

3. Organic or Perfunctory
• An organic reference is • Miller (2003) outlined
one that is required for the basic concepts that
understanding what is we build on here.
going on in the current
paper
• A perfunctory reference • Other researchers have
is one that simply examined this issue as
acknowledges the well (Xi, 2003; Baker,
existence of other work 1999).

4. Evolutionary or Juxtapositional
• The original paper is • This research builds on
cited because the work conducted in the
current paper builds on 1990s by several
the ideas in it researchers (Miller,
2004, Smith 2002)
• The original paper is
cited because the • Our study suggests an
current paper offers an alternative explanation
alternative to the than that offered by
original paper Harper (1993).

5. Confirmative or Negational
• The current paper can • As suggested by Smith
confirm the work of the (1999), our findings
original paper confirm that...
• The current paper can • The method used by
dispute the findings of Jones (2004) was not
the original paper rigorous enough to
support their
conclusions.

6. Interesting Correlations
Concepts Correlation
Article titles that ask a question Decreased [1]
Funny article titles Decreased [2]
Bigger reference section Increased [3]
Coverage in the popular news Increased [4]
Sharing research data Increased [5]
Open Access Increased [6]

7. Citation Correlation References
1. Jamali, H. R., & Nikzad, M. (2011). Article title type and its relation with the number of
downloads and citations. Scientometrics, (49), 653-661. doi:10.1007/s11192-011-0412-z
2. Sagi, I., & Yechiam, E. (2008). Amusing titles in scientific journals and article citation.
Journal of Information Science, 34(5), 680-687. doi:10.1177/0165551507086261
3. Corbyn, Z. (2010). An easy way to boost a paper’s citations. Nature. Nature Publishing Group.
doi:10.1038/news.2010.406
4. Phillips, D. P., Kanter, E. J., Bednarczyk, B., & Tastad, P. L. (1991). Importance of the Lay Press
in the Transmission of Medical Knowledge to the Scientific Community. The New England
Journal of Medicine, 325(16), 1180-1183.
5. Piwowar, H. a, Day, R. S., & Fridsma, D. B. (2007). Sharing detailed research data is associated
with increased citation rate. PloS one, 2(3), e308. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000308
6. Wagner, A. B. (2010). Open access citation advantage: an annotated bibliography. Issues in
Science and Technology Librarianship, (60). Retrieved from http://www.istl.org/10-winter/
article2.html
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