Paper presented at SIS 2012 Conference held at NIT Silchar organised by Dr. K C Satpathy

1. Citation Analysis of Ecology and Environmental
Research: A case study of Assam University (A
Central University), Silchar
A
Study Conducted by
Rofique Uddin Laskar
Student, DLIS, AUS
Under the Supervision of
Dr. Madan Sing Rana,
Librarian, HNB Garwal University (A Central University)

2. INTRODUCTION
Citation analysis plays a vital role in assessing the
scholarly material produced by a particular community.
Citation analysis is a tool used for Information
Management/ Knowledge Management which is a very
specialized task for Library and information
professionals. In recent days it is the most popular due to
the information explosion. It has a good applications in
Library and Information management decision making
process.
Moreover it reflects the concept of ‘right
information to the right person at the right time in a right
personal way’

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
 Identified the most cited sources in the doctoral theses of dept. of
ecology AUS.
 Study the authorship patterns of the citations.
 Determine the most frequently cited journals in Environmental Science
discipline
 Observe decade-wise chronological distribution of cited items.
 Chronological distribution of journals decade-wise.
 Core Author ranking
 Examine the Authorship trend.
 Examine the geographical distribution of core journals
 Investigate the citation half-life.

4. Methodology
 The research is a descriptive study, the major source of data used
are the theses submitted for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
degree in the Department of Ecology and environmental science,
Assam University, Silchar, during 2009-2010. The study population
is the total population of theses submitted within the coverage
period of the study. In all, eleven doctoral theses were analyzed.
 Collection of data
The first and most important task is to collect references from
the Ph.D. theses submitted to the department of ecology and
environmental science within the year 2009-2010. A total of three
thousand citations were accounted from the eleven PhD theses
submitted.

5. Citation Analysis: An introduction
The tradition of providing citations at the end of technical
writing is quite an old phenomenon. They have their own origin in
the referencing practices of researches and writers (White, 1985). It
is reported that the "concept of identification of the source of an
idea or quotation, developed during Renaissance, (i.e. From 14th
to16th century) after the invention of printing. However, the precise
origin of use of footnotes or references is obscure. The earliest
example provided in the Oxford English Dictionary is William
Savage's A dictionary of the Art of Printing (1841), containing bottom
notes... or footnotes. It is mentioned that earlier examples of notes
resembling footnotes are the Rheims-Douai version of the Bible (1763).

6. APPLICATION OF CITATION ANALYSIS
Citation analysis has two broad areas of applications. One of them is
suitable for librarians where citations are used to find out various features
of literature use like type of documents, languages, age, country of
origin, subject distribution, highly cited authors, journals, citation rate,
authorship pattern etc. and the other kind of study is useful to derive the
research productivity in a field of study. Smith (1981) reviewed the literature on
applications’ of citation analysis and identified the following areas of
applications:
1. Literature of studies
2. Type of literature studies
3. User studies
4. Historical studies
5. Communication pattern
6. Evaluative bibliometrics
7. Information retrieval
8. Collection development

7. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRITATION
 A total number of 3020 citations were collected from PhD theses
submitted by the students of Ecology and Environmental Science,
Assam University, Silchar, during 2009-2010. These citations stand
as the source data for the citation analysis and interpretation of
the data taken were analyzed.

8. Distribution of citation by forms
S. L. Ranking Number of Percentage Cumulative
No. No Name of the Document Citation Cumulative Percentage
1 1 Journal 2097 2097 69.44% 69.44%
2 2 Book 464 2561 15.36% 84.80%
3 3 Reports (all) 125 2686 4.14% 88.94%
Article (Journal name not
4 4 given) 71 2757 2.35% 91.29%
5 5 Internet Resource 53 2810 1.75% 93.05%
1.56%
6 6 Conference Proceeding 47 2857 94.60%
7 7 Other Materials 43 2900 1.42% 96.03%
8 8 Composite Book 39 2939 1.29% 97.32%
9 9 Thesis 26 2965 0.86% 98.18%
10 10 Review (all) 22 2987 0.73% 98.91%
1.09%
11 Doc Type Not Mentioned 33 3020 100%

10. CHRONOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CITATIONS
DECADE-WISE:
- Decade Number of Citation Cumulative Percentage Cumulative Percentage
1 2010-2001 708 708 23.44% 23.44%
2 2000-1991 1011 1719 33.48% 56.92%
3 1990-1981 596 2315 19.74% 76.66%
4 1980-1971 328 2643 10.86% 87.52%
5 1970-1961 142 2785 4.70% 92.22%
6 1960-1951 71 2856 2.35% 94.57%
7 1950-1941 18 2874 0.60% 95.17%
8 1940-1931 28 2902 0.93% 96.09%
9 1930-1921 19 2921 0.63% 96.72%
10 1920-1911 8 2929 0.26% 96.99%
11 1910-1901 15 2944 0.50% 97.48%
12 1800-1891 8 2952 0.26% 97.75%
13 1890-1881 8 2960 0.26% 98.01%
14 1880-1871 8 2968 0.26% 98.28%
15 1870-1861 6 2974 0.20% 98.48%
16 1860-1851 7 2981 0.23% 98.71%
17 1850-1841 2 2983 0.07% 98.77%
18 1840-1831 2 2985 0.07% 98.84%
19 1830-1821 1 2986 0.03% 98.87%
20 1820-1811 3 2989 0.10% 98.97%
21 1810-1801 6 2995 0.20% 99.17%
Others 25 3020 0.83% 100%

11. Cont…
The chronological distributions of citations are shown graphically.
In this diagram the curve continuously goes downward representing
the decade-wise citation patterns of different decades.
Chronological Distribution of Citation
1200
1000 1011
800
708
600 596
Number of Citation
400
328
200
142
71
0 18 28 19 8 15 8 8 8 6 7 2 2 1 3 6 25

12. CHRONOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF JOURNALS DECADE-WISE
Cumulative
S. L. No. Decades ↓ No of Citation of Journals Percentage Cumulative Percentage
1 2010-2001 503 23.99% 503 23.99%
2 2000-1991 696 33.19% 1199 57.18%
3 1990-1981 407 19.41% 1606 76.59%
4 1980-1971 229 10.92% 1835 87.51%
5 1970-1961 107 5.10% 1942 92.61%
6 1960-1951 55 2.62% 1997 95.23%
7 1950-1941 14 0.67% 2011 95.90%
8 1940-1931 14 0.67% 2025 96.57%
9 1930-1921 13 0.62% 2038 97.19%
10 1920-1911 3 0.14% 2041 97.33%
11 1910-1901 9 0.43% 2050 97.76%
12 1800-1891 6 0.29% 2056 98.04%
13 1890-1881 8 0.38% 2064 98.43%
14 1880-1871 3 0.14% 2067 98.57%
15 1870-1861 3 0.14% 2070 98.71%
16 1860-1851 6 0.29% 2076 99.00%
17 1850-1841 1 0.05% 2077 99.05%
18 1840-1831 3 0.14% 2080 99.19%
19 1830-1821 1 0.05% 2081 99.24%
20 1820-1811 2 0.10% 2083 99.33%
21 1810-1801 5 0.24% 2088 99.57%
Year Not
22 Mentioned 9 0.43% 2097 100%

13. Cont…
This Table is also representing in the diagram. In this diagram it is clearly shown that the
citation rate goes downwards with the decreasing of decades.
Ranking of Journals Decadewise
800
700 696
600
500 503
400 407
300
229
200 No of Citation of Journals
100 107
55
0 14 14 13 3 9 6 8 3 3 6 1 3 1 2 5 9

14. Most Significant Journals
S. L. Ranking No. of Cumulative
No. No. Name of the Journal Citation Cumulative Percentage Percentage
1 1 Journal of Orchid Soc. India 52 52 2.48% 2.48%
2 2 Soil Biology and Conservation 34 86 1.62% 4.10%
3 3 Arunachal Forest News 29 115 1.38% 5.48%
4 3 Indian J. Traditional Knowledge 29 144 1.38% 6.87%
5 4 Pollution Research 28 172 1.34% 8.20%
6 5 Current Science 26 198 1.24% 9.44%
7 6 Hydrobiologia 24 222 1.14% 10.59%
8 7 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22 244 1.05% 11.64%
9 8 Bulletin Botany Servey India 21 265 1.00% 12.64%
10 8 Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 21 286 1.00% 13.64%
11 9 Economic Botany 19 305 0.91% 14.54%
12 10 Investigation On Cetacea 18 323 0.86% 15.40%
13 11 J. Econ. Tax. Botany 15 338 0.72% 16.12%
Agricultural Ecosystem and
14 12 Environment 14 352 0.67% 16.79%
15 12 Agroforestry System 14 366 0.67% 17.45%
16 13 Indian J. Forestry 13 379 0.62% 18.07%
17 13 Indian J. Agron 13 392 0.62% 18.69%
18 14 Environmental Monitoring Assessment 12 404 0.57% 19.27%
19 15 Biological Conservation 11 415 0.52% 19.79%
20 15 Pedobiology 11 426 0.52% 20.31%
21 15 Journal of Ecology 11 437 0.52% 20.84%
22 15 Journal of Ethno pharmacology 11 448 0.52% 21.36%
23 16 Ethno botanical Leaflets 10 458 0.48% 21.84%

15. Cont…

16. AUTHORSHIP STUDY OR (AUTHORSHIP PATTERNS)
500
450
400
350
300
Single Author
250
Two Author
Three Author
200 Fourth Author
Morethan Four Author
150
100
50
0

17. AUTHORSHIP TREND (Single VS Multiple Authors
Percentage Single Percentage Multiple
S. L. No. Decade Single Author Multiple Author Author Author
1 2010-2001 262 446 8.68% 14.77%
2 2000-1991 450 561 14.90% 18.58%
3 1990-1981 278 318 9.21% 10.53%
4 1980-1971 167 161 5.53% 5.33%
5 1970-1961 92 50 3.05% 1.66%
6 1960-1951 50 21 1.66% 0.70%
7 1950-1941 14 4 0.46% 0.13%
8 1940-1931 18 10 0.60% 0.33%
9 1930-1921 17 2 0.56% 0.07%
10 1920-1911 7 1 0.23% 0.03%
11 1910-1901 14 1 0.46% 0.03%
12 1800-1891 7 1 0.23% 0.03%
13 1890-1881 8 0 0.26% 0.00%
14 1880-1871 8 0 0.26% 0.00%
15 1870-1861 5 1 0.17% 0.03%
16 1860-1851 7 0 0.23% 0.00%
17 1850-1841 2 0 0.07% 0.00%
18 1840-1831 2 0 0.07% 0.00%
19 1830-1821 0 1 0.00% 0.03%
20 1820-1811 3 0 0.10% 0.00%
21 1810-1801 5 1 0.17% 0.03%
Total → 1416 1578 46.89% 52.28%

18. Authorship pattern Single vs Multiple
600
500
400
300
Single Author
Multiple Author
200
100
0

19. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CORE JOURNALS
S. L. No. Ranking No. Name of the Journal No. of Citing Place of publication
1 1 Journal of Orchid Soc. India 52 India
2 2 Soil Biology and Conservation 34 UK
3 3 Arunachal Forest News 29 India
4 3 Indian J. Traditional Knowledge 29 India
5 4 Pollution Research 28 India
6 5 Current Science 26 India
7 6 Hydrobiologia 24 India
8 7 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22 India
9 8 Bulletin Botany Survey India 21 India
10 8 Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 21 India
11 9 Economic Botany 19 India
12 10 Investigation On Cetacea 18 California
13 11 J. Econ. Tax. Botany 15 India
14 12 Agricultural Ecosystem and Environment 14 USA
15 12 Agroforestry System 14 Netherland
16 13 Indian J. Forestry 13 India
17 13 Indian J. Agron 13 India
18 14 Environmental Monitoring Assessment 12 USA
19 15 Biological Conservation 11 India
20 15 Pedobiology 11 USA
21 15 Journal of Ecology 11 India
22 15 Journal of Ethnopharmacology 11 India
23 16 Ethnobotanical Leaflets 10 India
24 16 Tropical Ecology 10 India
25 16 American Orchid Society Bulletin 10 USA

20. CITATION HALF-LIFE STUDIES
S. L. No. Year Number of Citation Cumulative Percentage Cumulative Percentage
1 2010 9 9 0.30% 0.30%
2 2009 35 44 1.16% 1.46%
3 2008 49 93 1.62% 3.08%
4 2007 89 182 2.95% 6.03%
5 2006 87 269 2.88% 8.91%
6 2005 84 353 2.78% 11.69%
7 2004 80 433 2.65% 14.34%
8 2003 85 518 2.81% 17.15%
9 2002 89 607 2.95% 20.10%
10 2001 101 708 3.34% 23.44%
11 2000 142 850 4.70% 28.15%
12 1999 114 964 3.77% 31.92%
13 1998 100 1064 3.31% 35.23%
14 1997 112 1176 3.71% 38.94%
15 1996 109 1285 3.61% 42.55%
16 1995 101 1386 3.34% 45.89%
17 1994 94 1480 3.11% 49.01%
18 1993 80 1560 2.65% 51.66%
19 1992 84 1644 2.78% Half Life

21. MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
The analysis yields the following results:
1. Distribution of citation format: the distribution pattern of citations by
type of document i.e., form-wise shows that journals are heavily cited
(69.44%), citation to books falls in the second position (15.36%),
citations of all types of reports comes in the next order (4.14%) and
the citations to the other forms of literature are negligible;
2. Chronological list of document types: the chronological distribution of
document type shows that the recent documents of all types are cited
heavily. Most of the citations are cited in between the year 2000 to
1991, 696 journals and 176 books are cited from the total citations;
3. Chronological distributions of citations Year-wise: Current literature is
most important to the Ecology and environmental science students
and researchers for their research activities. The year
2001,2000,1999,1998,1997,1996 and 1995’s literature are very
significant from the ecology and environmental science researchers
point of view;
4. Chronological distributions of journals: like other resources, journal
citations also follow the latest trends. A total 33.19% journal citations
comes in between the year 2001 to 2010.

22. Cont…
5. Chronological distributions of books: in the two decades (2000-1991)
and (1990-1981) covers 62.09% book citations, it means that most-
latest books are cited in this field.
6. Core Journals: the first twenty five high ranking journals contribute 22.79% of the
total citations. Journal of orchid society is in the first position (2.48%) and Social
biology and conservation is in the second position (1.62%). It is observed that
there is lack of uniformity among all theses as far as journal citations are
concerned.
7. Core Authors: the rank-list of authors has been found out excluding the
corporates author. First thirty high ranked authors contribute 13.48% citations
among the total citations. Hedre, S. N., Annonymous, Rao,A. N., Jain, S. K. and
Pilleri, G. are the first 5 high ranked authors in this field. Like journals there is also
lack of consistency as far as authors citations.
8. Authorship Pattern: in this field multiple authors are mostly cited than single
authors. 46.89% single authors are cited where as 52.28% multiple authors are
cited. It is found that collaboration works are growing and growing rapidly from the
year 1981.
9. Half-Life: the cited half-life of the ecology and environmental science is found 18
which is in the year 1993. Half-life reflects the latest trend of citations in this field.
10. Geographical distribution of core journals

23. ISSUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Citation study is a lengthy process but interesting and a real life study. It has a very good
utility in today’s World especially in India. It is not only for librarians, information scientist but also for
the scientists, researchers, students and teachers in a particular field to improve their quality of
research. The present study is a dissertation work so an in-depth analysis was not done. Moreover due
to confinement of time the study was not conducted in a large scale as there were only six months
available to conduct the study according to course structure of MLISc programme. The study can be
developed and can be continued further into the following –
 The present study could be converted into a bibliometrics analysis where different laws can
be applied to find out the impact of the scholarly material.
 This investigation can be extended to all theses submitted by the department of Ecology and
Environmental Science.
 This study could also be conducted in all universities of Assam in the field of Ecology and
Environmental Science to find out the overall citation trends in this field.
 No similar study has been conducted yet in any subjects of Assam University, Silchar, so it is
very important to focus on more studies in every subject to help acquisition decision making
process.
 Moreover, the citation study in India is not negligible today, but in this subject very less
number of studies has been conducted. More studies will facilitate to find out the real scenario in
this field.

24. CONCLUSIONS
Citations studies do provide some guide lines for the librarians and information scientists in
the decision making process in their acquisition policy.
The exponential growth of knowledge, ever escalating costs of documents, limited allocation
of budget are some of the factors that are leading the librarians and information scientists to adopt
statistical and mathematical techniques for decision making process.
Although, several findings were pointed out in this study but a single research cannot be all-
encompassing to point out the multifarious existing problems that call for urgent solutions. With this
study carried out in a single university, it would be beneficial to replicate it in some of the other top
universities of North-East with virile Ecology departments in order to compare the results. This will help
in answering the question like: Are the core materials similar? Are they maintaining latest trends? Are
the core authors similar? Are the other sources also beneficial to their research work? These answers
could prove to be helpful to already established university libraries and new other libraries seeking to
establish Ecology department with implications for boosting existing and new collections.

25. THANK YOU
HAVE A PLEASANT
DAY