Thesis and Dissertation Citations as Indicators of Faculty Research Use of University Library Journal Collections

Abstract

Citation analysis is a long-standing collection-evaluation tool often undertaken to investigate one aspect of library collection use. Citations from theses and dissertations are much more easily and comprehensively gathered than are citations voluntarily supplied by faculty. Using four studies in geology and biology, the Kendall coefficient of rank correlation tests the degree of association between journals most heavily cited by graduate students and those titles most heavily cited in faculty publications. Positive associations are confirmed in three data sets. Additional descriptive analysis shows that the 40 titles most heavily cited in theses and dissertations consistently contained about 70% of the top 40 titles cited by faculty, including most of the 12-15 top titles. If results are replicated, thesis and dissertation citations can be reliably used as a surrogate for faculty publication citations in evaluations of the research portion of library collection use.