Cited Documents as Concept Symbols

Abstract

An interpretation of citation practice in scientific literature is offered which regards citation of a document as an act of symbol usage. By examining the language of the text around the footnote number the particular idea the citing author is associating with the cited document may be determined. the document is viewed as symbolic of the idea expressed in the text. This analysis was done for a sample of very highly cited documents in chemistry. A high degree of uniformity is revealed in the association of specific concepts with specific documents. These documents may be seen, in Leach's terms, as 'standard sym bols' for particular ideas, methods, and experimental data in chemical science. Some implications of these findings for the social determination of scientific knowledge (conceived as a dialogue among citing authors on the 'meaning' of earlier texts), and the relationship between cited documents as concept symbols and Kuhn's exemplars, are discussed.

Bibliometrics: Is your most cited work your best?

“…Old, highly cited papers might become stereotyped 6 : people unquestioningly treat them as canonical. Recent papers (those published within the past five years), have had insufficient time to accrue citations.…”

Disciplinarity and the Rhetoric of Science: A Social Epistemological Reception Study

“…Citations provide access to the discursive constitution of disciplines in science, as long as one is prepared to stipulate their rhetorical character-specifically, as multivalent forensic metonyms: i.e., as figures of speech oriented toward truth-claims and capable of multiple interpretations by virtue of their referentiality (see Amsterdamska and Leydesdorff, 1989;Cano, 1989;Cozzens, 1989;Gilbert, 1977;Small, 1978;Wouters, 1999). It should be noted that pointed caveats about the limitations of citations as measures of scientific work have been issued (Edge, 1979;Ferber, 1986;Zuckerman, 1987).…”

Positioning knowledge: schools of thought and new knowledge creation

“…Similarly, almost all studies using patents use patent citation as a proxy for patent success (Trajtenberg 1990). In paper-citation work it is commonly assumed that a citation in a specific piece of work indicates intellectual influence on the published work and value to the citing author (Small 1978). This may not always be the case, though, as a well-known citation may be used simply to "represent" a point of view or citations may be made for social reasons.…”