Citation Searching at UA Libraries  Tags: citation_search citation cited_references promotion tenure journal_ranking impact_factor dialog scopus  

Recommended databases and other tools for conducting and compiling a cited reference search are listed on this page. Searching tips are included as well as additional articles and resources providing advice regarding preparing for tenure and promotion. Information on this page provides resources for conducting your own cited reference search for items published since 1996. For a cited reference search on items published prior to 1996, please contact us for a Dialog search.

For additional searching assistance and tips for utilizing Scopus and other resources, please make an appointment -- drop by the Reference Desk, call 442-3558 or fill our the online appointment form.

Cited references are the articles, books, and other resources listed in a bibliography, a "Works Cited" list, or in a "References" list. Cited references are useful for finding additional articles and books on a topic, for identifying the top researchers in a field, and for tenure decisions.

Citation databases index each reference, making it possible to follow the instances where a reference or author has been cited. There are a number of ways in which this technique may be useful:
• to locate current research based on earlier research
• to find out how many times and where a publication is being cited
• to find out who is referencing a particular paper
• to find out how a particular research topic is being used to support other research; to analyze the impact
• to track the history of a research idea
• to track the research of an individual

Citation reference searching is used at many universities as one means of evaluating the research quality of faculty members. The basic premise is that the more times an author is cited, the greater contribution he or she has made to an academic field.

Although a high number of citations can indicate that an author or article has had a major impact, other factors should be considered:

• citation rates vary widely from field to field
• citation rates may be based on a few prolific authors citing each other, including self-citations
• chronological distribution of citations might indicate the longevity of a paper's importance; for instance, 25 cited references spread out evenly over the past 5 years might have more impact than 100 cited references that all occurred over 5 years ago
• the quality of the journal producing the citation is a factor to be considered
• citation searching works best for journal articles and for not books
• international or cross-disciplinary research may produce fewer citations
• coverage of some fields in the citation databases may be weak
• the research may be too recent to be cited by other scholars

• Books, book chapters, conference proceedings, dissertations and technical reports may be excluded from the citation tool
• Some journals in various fields may be excluded.
• Journal articles in press are not included in the databases.
• Journals are not consistently indexed nor indexed retrospectively when added to the databases.
• The focus is strongly on sciences and some of the social sciences.
• There is limited coverage of non-English publications.

Because of problems inherent in citation analysis, it should not be the only means of evaluating a faculty member’s research.