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Cited by 256scientometrics and bibliometrics researchWeb visibility and informetricsAcademic Writing and Publishing

Private acts and public objects: An investigation of citer motivations

Brooks, Terrence A.·1985·Journal of the American Society for Information Science
DOI 10.1002/asi.4630360402
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Abstract

Citation analysis has been used as a method for evaluating scholars and their impact. Evaluative citation analysis has been employed without a clear understanding of why authors give references and in the absence of any empirical work investigating citer motivations. The debate over the validity of evaluative citation analysis derives from the competing theoretical models used to describe the citer's motivations. Current models describing citer motivations were analyzed in this article and the seven most significant citer motivations identified. These seven citer motivations were presented to 26 authors at the University of Iowa each of whom had recently published an academic article. The authors indicated their motivations for giving each reference in their articles. As a result, the motivational background for more than 900 citational acts were gathered and analyzed.

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Crossref · 10.1002/asi.4630360402

Cites

37 of 37 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Citation counts do not yield insight into the authors' motives for their citing behavior, nor do they tell us what informational unit they are targeting in the cited work.

    “Citation counts do not yield insight into the authors' motives for their citing behavior, nor do they tell us what informational unit they are targeting in the cited work”

    From What do citation counts measure? A review of studies on citing behavior (2008) · cites this paper as Brooks, 1985

  • Persuasiveness has been found to be one of the most frequently referenced motivations.

    “Persuasiveness has been found to be one of the most frequently referenced motivations (Brooks, 1985).”

    From Core Elements in the Process of Citing Publications: Conceptual Overview of the Literature (2018) · cites this paper as Brooks, 1985

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Authors
Brooks, T. A.
Affiliations
University of Iowa (US)
Corresponding author
Brooks, Terrence A.
Venue
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1985-07
Volume
36
Issue
4
Pages
223-229
ISSN
  • 0002-8231 (ISSN-L)
  • 1097-4571
DOI
10.1002/asi.4630360402
OpenAlex
W2071902141
Cited by
256
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 12
FWCI
3.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 7934 d)
Locations
Journal of the American Society for Information Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Web visibility and informetrics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Academic Writing and Publishing
Keywords
citation behavior, author survey

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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

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