Description
Citations are explicit references in scientific/scholarly literature (books, edited volumes, journals, scientific forums) to research products or outputs.
Explanation
Citations, in the sense of references, can be interpreted as evidence of use and thus of impact on peers. They occur in footnotes or endnotes in books, edited volumes and journals, and in scientific/scholarly forums provide material support for a scientific or scholarly claim.
References as used in certain prescribed domains or subdomains of the humanities can be analysed using standardised methods, in the form of citation analyses (see box). That is not true in other domains, however, and references there will have to be presented as part of the narrative.
Usefulness
References can be presented in the narrative as evidence of use by peers.
Status
Reasoned indicator, as part of narrative; standardised in some domains (see box).
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Citation analysis as standardised method If the literature in which references occur are tracked systematically in such databases as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. citation analysis may also be used. This is true of a small number of disciplines in the humanities, specifically most of the subdisciplines of linguistics, and those domains or subdomains tending more towards the social sciences. For a more detailed explanation, see Bibliometric tools
Special use of citation analysis:
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