Dissertation Information for Richard Stern NAME: - Richard Stern
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Rutgers University (USA) (1987)
ADVISORS: - Henry Voos
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Thomas H. Mott Jr. - Joy Kaiser Moll - Daniel O'Connor - Brent D. Ruben
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Uncitedness in the biomedical literature: An exploration of bibliographic correlates
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to determine if selected bibliographic characteristics of biomedical journal papers are associated with the subsequent uncitedness of the papers. Two characteristics specific to the biomedical literature and seven general characteristics were examined. The biomedical characteristics include whether or not the research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the biomedical research level which is a four level classification of journals according to their research orientation: Level 1, Clinical Observation; Level 2, Clinical Mix, Level 3, Clinical Investigation, and Level 4, Basic Research. The general characteristics include the number of authors, title words, key title words, and references; also, the age, price, and circulation of the journal in which the paper was published. The rate of uncitedness, using the 275 source journal set as the citing set is 13.3%. The rate of uncitedness using the Science Citation Index as the citing set is estimated to be 4.4%.
Research support and biomedical research level are significantly associated with uncitedness. Uncitedness is lower for NIH-supported papers. Uncitedness decreases with biomedical research level, with uncitedness lowest among papers published in basic research journals.
A discriminant analysis function with the general bibliographic characteristics correctly predicted cited and uncited papers with 70% accuracy. Uncited papers alone were predicted with 75% accuracy. In partitioning the components of the discriminant model, the number of references accounted for 76.4% of variability, and the number of authors accounted for an additional 9.7% of the variability. This reinforces the finding that the number of references and authors are significantly related to uncitedness. Uncitedness papers have fewer references and authors compared to cited papers.
Future studies of uncitedness should proceed in two directions. One, additional bibliographic characteristics such as author affiliation and length of paper ought to be tested. Second, further study of the significantly associated characteristics ought to be examined more closely to determine whether their numbers differentiate between levels of quality in papers or whether there is some other mechanism at work that accounts for the significant differences in rates of uncitedness.
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MPACT Scores for Richard Stern A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
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TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:09:45
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