Citation analysis of theses and dissertations submitted to the Tshwane University of Technology: 2004 - 2005

Adriaan Swanepoelswanepoelaj@tut.ac.za

Outline

• Background

• Research problem

• Research design

• Results

• Problems and limitations

• Advantages of citation analysis

• Significance of the study

Background

Research problem

• How does the use of information sources by master’s and doctoral (M&D) students differ between the faculties of TUT, and to what extent does the Library and Information Services provide access to a subset (journals) of the information sources that are mostly used by M&D students?

Sub-problems

• Which types of information sources do M&D students of different faculties use most and least, and to what extent does it change from year to year?

• Which journals do M&D students of different faculties use most and least, and to what extent does it change from year to year?

• To what extent does the LIS keep or provide access to the journals that are mostly used by M&D students?

Research design• Nature: Longitudinal• Data sources: All TUT theses since 2004• Timeframe: Retrospective• Data collection: Per faculty

a. Number of citations per information typeb. Number of citations per thesisc. Number of theses per subject disciplined. Frequency of journal titles citede. Cited journals owned by the library

• Method: Citation counting

Method

• Analysis and measurement (counting) of citations according to predetermined and well-defined categories

• Quantification and ordering/ranking of the categorized units

• Analysis and comparison of attained data

• Interpretation of the data insofar as research questions are concerned

Total theses, faculties, etc. (2004 – May 2005)

Number of theses 93

Number of dissertations 11

Submitted in 2004 63

Submitted up to May 2005 41

Faculties 11

Departments 40

Subjects (CESM categories*) 33*Council on Higher Education. Classification of Educational Subject Matter

Theses, dissertations per faculty• Agricultural Sciences 8• Arts 5• Business School 2• Economic Sciences 3• Education 22• Engineering 13• Health Sciences 14• Information and Communication Technology 7• Management Sciences 7• Natural Sciences 8• Social Sciences 16

Information sources cited

• Sound recordings, TV and film 4

• Personal communication 132

• Electronic 697

• Paper 7141

TOTAL 7974

Material types cited% N

Books 38.80 3094

Journals 36.47 2908

Web sites & CD-ROMs 7.71 615

Govt. Publications 4.82 384

Proceedings/papers 3.11 248

Theses/Dissertations 1.86 148

Personal communication 1.44 115

NGO Reports 1.04 83

Material types cited% N

Newspapers 1.00 80

Technical data 0.23 18

Patents 0.08 6

Radio, TV, film, video 0.06 5

Maps 0.03 2

Sound recordings 0.01 1

Scores 0.00 0

Graphic illustrations 0.00 0

Material types cited

% NOther 3.05 243

Comic books 0.41 33

Use of journals, books, web sites & CD-ROM

• Average number of citations per thesis

0102030405060708090

100

HealthSciences

BusinessSchool

NaturalSciences

AgriculturalSciences

JournalsBooksWeb, CD

Use of journals, books, web sites & CD-ROM

• Average number of citations per thesis

0102030405060708090

100

Education Engineering EconomicSciences

Arts

JournalsBooksWeb, CD

Use of theses/dissertations, technical data and patents

• Average number of citations per thesis

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

NaturalSciences

Engineering ICT HealthSciences

ThesesTech dataPatents

Journals used per faculty

• Faculty of Natural Sciences

Title Times cited

Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry 24

Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society 22

Journal of Supercritical Fluids 13

Tropical Science 1

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 1

Journals used per faculty

• Faculty of Health Sciences

Title Times cited

International Journal of Sports Medicine 40

International Journal of Pharmaceutics 40

Journal of Applied Psychology 37

Contact Dermatitis 1

Clinical Orthopedics 1

Journals citedJnl titles cited Frequency1088 1 – 4

71 5 – 9

23 10 - 14

3 15 – 19

5 20 – 24

2 25 – 29

3 30 – 34

2 35 – 39

2 40 – 44

0 45 – 64

1 65 – 69

Journals citedJnl titles cited Frequency LIS Holdings1088 1 – 4 not yet

determined

71 5 – 9 12

23 10 - 14 7

3 15 – 19 1

5 20 – 24 4

2 25 – 29 0

3 30 – 34 1

2 35 – 39 1

2 40 – 44 1

0 45 – 64 0

1 65 – 69 1

Problems and limitations

• Researchers are more likely to use materials to which they have local access

• Citations may be added to increase the thesis’ length and scholarly appearance

• Researchers may cite works of marginal importance

• Researchers may not cite all works used to prepare the thesis

• Handbooks and textbooks often do not receive citations as they are taken for granted by students.

Sylvia,1998:20-28

Advantages

• Citation analysis provides an unobtrusive method of obtaining data on which information resources are being used

• By using citations from theses and dissertations as data sources, even relative inexperienced researchers can gather the data easily and comprehensively

• Citation analysis is a method that avoids voluntary submission of data, “researchers can actually gather a true population of citations” (Zipp,1996:341)

Significance of the study

We empower people

Adriaan SwanepoelActing DirectorLibrary and Information Services (Pretoria Campus)Tshwane University of TechnologySouth Africa

swanepoelaj@tut.ac.za