Citation Analysis
Review of Research Bibliographic
There have been at least five bibliometric investigations of the nursing literature. Garfield (1985), an information scientist, conducted a journal citation study on core nursing journals indexed in the 1983 Social Sciences Citation Index, using citation data from 1981 to 1983. Four bibliometric studies have been conducted by nurse researchers.
Messler (1974) conducted a citation analysis investigating the growth of maternity nursing knowledge as reflected in published nursing practice literature from 1909 to 1972. Wilford (1989) used citation analysis techniques to study citation patterns depicted in the references of a random sample of 310 nursing dissertations from 1947 to mid-1987.
Johnson (1990) conducted a bibliometric analysis using the technique of keyword analysis to describe the evolution of the holistic paradigm in the field of nursing. D'Auria (1994) used citation analysis techniques, including author co-citation analysis, to demonstrate the feasibility of using author co-citation analysis for identifying emerging networks of researchers in the subfield of maternal and child health nursing from 1976 to 1990.
Further
Bibliometric analyzes of the research literature from the general field or
subfields of nursing will provide a baseline for describing and interpreting
citation data in the field of nursing.
Benefits for Visibility of Retrieval of Information
At this point in the development of nursing science, it is critical that nurse scholars create ways to increase the visibility and retrieval of scientific information being generated in the field. Bibliometric methods can provide a way to track disciplinary influences and the identities of nurse scientists and scientists from other disciplines whose interests are shaping the generation of scientific information in nursing.
The findings of bibliometric studies will provide nurse scholars with a guide for scholarship for doctoral students and researchers in the field of nursing that may differ from information that has been passed down as traditional wisdom.
Thus, the findings of bibliometric
studies will open up new avenues for debate and hypotheses generation in regard
to the evolution of nursing science.
How Citation Data Affects In Nursing Research Development
As the nursing research literature continues to grow, rigorous and systematic bibliometric research of citation data may contribute working models of the development of nursing science that could be used to evaluate scientific progress.
By discovering trends in disciplinary and interdisciplinary linkages, nurse scholars can identify underdeveloped or neglected areas of research in nursing science.
Evaluating the degree of scientific activity in research areas would help nurse scholars determine if research resources are allocated correctly as well as assist them in determining the need for new journals and books in the field of nursing.
It will also provide an avenue by which nurse scholars may access scientific information and prevent the loss of information generated in the field of nursing.
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