An increasing citation black hole in ecology and evolution

Ecology and Evolution

Anthony R. Rafferty¹  Bob B. M. Wong¹ 

[1] School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

关键词: h‐Index;    journal impact factor;    online supplementary material;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.1356

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Citations published in online supplementary material (OSM) are invisible to search engines used to calculate citation counts, potentially negatively impacting popular performance indices and journal rankings that rely on citation counts for quantification. To quantify the number of citations that are “lost” in OSM, we conducted a systematic survey of supplementary citation practices in four high-ranking, society-run journals from two geographical locations (Europe and North America). In 2012, 6% of all citations were only included in the OSM and were therefore not included in citation counts. We found a significant increase in the number of references invisible to citation counting services over the last two decades. A solution to this problem is urgently required and could include journal indexing of citations in OSM or the inclusion of all references in the main text.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.