LIS 601
Week8: Citation Indexing

Key Concepts concerning Citation Indexing Approaches.

Before we can discuss the Garfield article it is important to understand several important concepts concerning the use of citations in Information Retrieval. Make sure that you understand the differences between bibliographic coupling and co-citation measures. These study notes should help you get started.

Study notes derived from the Garfield (1980) Article

Garfield is the considered by most information professionals as the greatest propenent of the citation indexing approach. My study notes summarize the process that Garfield uses in the creation of his "Research Front" indexes.

Class Demonstration

Take a look at this very small collection of documents. Can you determine 1) which documents are most strongly bilbiographically coupled; and, 2) which have the highest co-citation strengths?

Answers to Class Demonstration

In class I had you to play "computer" and generate the bibliographic coupling strengths and co-citation link strengths for an artificial collection of  "documents". Find below the answers presented in tabular form:

• Co-citation link strengths
• Chart showing where the documents were bibliographically coupled
• Bibliographic coupling strengths