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A comparison of citation contexts between natural sciences and social sciences and humanities

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  • Yu-Wei Chang

    (National Taiwan University)

Abstract

This study uses the method of citation context analysis to compare differences in citation contexts, including cited concepts and citation functions, between natural sciences (NS) and social sciences and humanities (SSH), based on articles citing Little Science, Big Science (LSBS) published between 1963 and 2010. The findings indicate that NS and SSH researchers frequently cite LSBS as a source that is related to a specific topic and as evidence to support a claim. No significant differences were identified in the distribution of cited concepts included in LSBS, but significant differences were observed in the reasons for citing LSBS between NS and SSH citing articles. However, reverse trends were observed in the percentage of some cited concepts and citation functions between NS and SSH, which implies that subtle differences in citation behavior exist between NS and SSH researchers. In addition, each concept category has a different half-life. Concepts related to characteristics of big science and scientific collaboration have the longest half-lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu-Wei Chang, 2013. "A comparison of citation contexts between natural sciences and social sciences and humanities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(2), pages 535-553, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:96:y:2013:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-013-0956-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-013-0956-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Klemiński, Rajmund & Kazienko, Przemyslaw & Kajdanowicz, Tomasz, 2021. "Where should I publish? Heterogeneous, networks-based prediction of paper’s citation success," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    3. Similo Ngwenya & Nelius Boshoff, 2022. "Different manifestations of ‘context’: examples from a bibliometric study of research in Zimbabwe in Southern Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3911-3933, July.
    4. Kai Nishikawa, 2023. "How and why are citations between disciplines made? A citation context analysis focusing on natural sciences and social sciences and humanities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 2975-2997, May.
    5. Marc Bertin & Iana Atanassova & Cassidy R. Sugimoto & Vincent Lariviere, 2016. "The linguistic patterns and rhetorical structure of citation context: an approach using n-grams," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1417-1434, December.
    6. Sehrish Iqbal & Saeed-Ul Hassan & Naif Radi Aljohani & Salem Alelyani & Raheel Nawaz & Lutz Bornmann, 2021. "A decade of in-text citation analysis based on natural language processing and machine learning techniques: an overview of empirical studies," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(8), pages 6551-6599, August.

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