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

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Citation analysis of theses and dissertations
submitted to the Tshwane University of
Technology 2004 - 2005
Adriaan Swanepoel swanepoelaj_at_tut.ac.za
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Outline

• Background
• Research problem
• Research design
• Results
• Problems and limitations
• Advantages of citation analysis
• Significance of the study

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Background
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Research problem

• How does the use of information sources by
  masters and doctoral (MD) 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 MD students?

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Sub-problems

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

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Research design

• Nature Longitudinal
• Data sources All TUT theses since 2004
• Timeframe Retrospective
• Data collection Per faculty
• a. Number of citations per information type
• b. Number of citations per thesis
• c. Number of theses per subject discipline
• d. Frequency of journal titles cited
• e. Cited journals owned by the library
• Method Citation counting

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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

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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

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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

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Information sources cited

• Sound recordings, TV and film 4
• Personal communication 132
• Electronic 697
• Paper 7141
• TOTAL 7974

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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

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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

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Material types cited

• N
• Other 3.05 243

Comic books 0.41 33
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Use of journals, books, web sites CD-ROM

• Average number of citations per thesis

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Use of journals, books, web sites CD-ROM

• Average number of citations per thesis

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Use of theses/dissertations, technical data and
patents

• Average number of citations per thesis

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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
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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
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Journals cited

• Jnl titles cited Frequency
• 1088 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

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Journals cited

• Jnl titles cited Frequency LIS Holdings
• 1088 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

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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,199820-28

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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,1996341)

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Significance of the study
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Adriaan Swanepoel Acting Director Library and
Information Services (Pretoria Campus) Tshwane
University of Technology South Africa swanepoelaj
_at_tut.ac.za
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