Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences

Objectives: Replicate methods from a 2019 study of Earth Science researcher citation practices. Calculate programmatically whether researchers in Earth Science rely on a smaller subset of literature than estimated by the 80/20 rule. Determine whether these reproducible citation analysis met...

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Main Authors: Samantha Teplitzky, Wynn Tranfield, Mea Warren, Philip White
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UMass Chan Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library 2021-05-01
Series:Journal of eScience Librarianship
Subjects:
Online Access:https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/jeslib/vol10/iss2/6/
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author Samantha Teplitzky
Wynn Tranfield
Mea Warren
Philip White
author_facet Samantha Teplitzky
Wynn Tranfield
Mea Warren
Philip White
author_sort Samantha Teplitzky
collection DOAJ
description Objectives: Replicate methods from a 2019 study of Earth Science researcher citation practices. Calculate programmatically whether researchers in Earth Science rely on a smaller subset of literature than estimated by the 80/20 rule. Determine whether these reproducible citation analysis methods can be used to analyze open access uptake. Methods: Replicated methods of a prior citation study provide an updated transparent, reproducible citation analysis protocol that can be replicated with Jupyter Notebooks. Results: This study replicated the prior citation study’s conclusions, and also adapted the author’s methods to analyze the citation practices of Earth Scientists at four institutions. We found that 80% of the citations could be accounted for by only 7.88% of journals, a key metric to help identify a core collection of titles in this discipline. We then demonstrated programmatically that 36% of these cited references were available as open access. Conclusions: Jupyter Notebooks are a viable platform for disseminating replicable processes for citation analysis. A completely open methodology is emerging and we consider this a step forward. Adherence to the 80/20 rule aligned with institutional research output, but citation preferences are evident. Reproducible citation analysis methods may be used to analyze open access uptake, however, results are inconclusive. It is difficult to determine whether an article was open access at the time of citation, or became open access after an embargo.
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spelling doaj.art-dbaa116882dc4113810b1d45bf0c553e2023-01-02T20:42:46ZengUMass Chan Medical School, Lamar Soutter LibraryJournal of eScience Librarianship2161-39742021-05-01102e119410.7191/jeslib.2021.1194Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth SciencesSamantha Teplitzky0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-332XWynn Tranfield1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3802-8362Mea Warren2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5121-4610Philip White3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6087-8286University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Los AngelesUniversity of HoustonUniversity of Colorado, Boulder,Objectives: Replicate methods from a 2019 study of Earth Science researcher citation practices. Calculate programmatically whether researchers in Earth Science rely on a smaller subset of literature than estimated by the 80/20 rule. Determine whether these reproducible citation analysis methods can be used to analyze open access uptake. Methods: Replicated methods of a prior citation study provide an updated transparent, reproducible citation analysis protocol that can be replicated with Jupyter Notebooks. Results: This study replicated the prior citation study’s conclusions, and also adapted the author’s methods to analyze the citation practices of Earth Scientists at four institutions. We found that 80% of the citations could be accounted for by only 7.88% of journals, a key metric to help identify a core collection of titles in this discipline. We then demonstrated programmatically that 36% of these cited references were available as open access. Conclusions: Jupyter Notebooks are a viable platform for disseminating replicable processes for citation analysis. A completely open methodology is emerging and we consider this a step forward. Adherence to the 80/20 rule aligned with institutional research output, but citation preferences are evident. Reproducible citation analysis methods may be used to analyze open access uptake, however, results are inconclusive. It is difficult to determine whether an article was open access at the time of citation, or became open access after an embargo.https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/jeslib/vol10/iss2/6/reproducibilitycitation analysisjupyter notebooksgeosciencesearth sciencesopen sciencebibliometrics
spellingShingle Samantha Teplitzky
Wynn Tranfield
Mea Warren
Philip White
Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
Journal of eScience Librarianship
reproducibility
citation analysis
jupyter notebooks
geosciences
earth sciences
open science
bibliometrics
title Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
title_full Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
title_fullStr Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
title_full_unstemmed Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
title_short Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences
title_sort introducing reproducibility to citation analysis a case study in the earth sciences
topic reproducibility
citation analysis
jupyter notebooks
geosciences
earth sciences
open science
bibliometrics
url https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/jeslib/vol10/iss2/6/
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