Citation behavior in popular scientific papers: what is behind obscure citations? The case of ethnobotany

Marcelo Alves Ramos, Joabe Gomes Melo and Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque ()
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Marcelo Alves Ramos: Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
Joabe Gomes Melo: Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque: Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Scientometrics, 2012, vol. 92, issue 3, No 12, 719 pages

Abstract: Abstract Citation studies have become an important tool for understanding scientific communication processes, as they enable the identification of several characteristics of information-retrieval behavior. This study seeks to analyze citation behavior using two popular ethnobotany articles, and our analysis is guided by the following question: when an author references a work, is he pointing out the work’s theoretical contribution, or is bias a factor in citing this reference? Citation analysis reveals an interesting phenomenon, as the majority of citing texts do not consider the theoretical contributions made by the articles cited. Two possible conclusions can be drawn from this scenario: (1) citing authors read the original texts that they cite only superficially, and (2) the works cited are not read by the vast majority of people who reference them. Thus, it is clear that even with sufficient access to reference texts; ethnobotanical studies highlight elements less relevant to the research and reproduce discussions in a non-reflective manner.

Keywords: Citation analysis; Scientometrics; Scientific quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0662-4

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