College and Research Libraries KEITH GREEN An Evaluation of Citation-Return on Reprints A ten-year retrospective study of reprint distribution and their subsequent citation was undertaken, which indicated that the citation-return on re- prints is low, although distribution of reprints may have aided in increasing the citation rate. There is an indication that many authors use journals in libraries as sources for citation articles either by reading or photocopying rather than requesting reprints. Reprint utilization by recipients, however, goes beyond use solely as citation sou;.ces. CITATION ANALYSIS has resulted in the in- dication of significant trends regarding the impact of publications as measured by their citation rate. 1 • 2 Another area of citation study, which is amenable to objective analysis, relates more specifically to the area of reprint citation by authors, namely the frequency of utilization of requested re- prints and their subsequent citation. Reprints are purchased for distribution often at high cost to either the author in- stitutions or federal and state agencies; in addition, the cost of mailing reprint request cards and reprints increases as postal costs rise. A recent cost estimate placed the cost of the multiple facets of reprint requests and distribution at about half a billion dol- lars annually. 3 In face of these rising costs there is a natural concern over the utiliza- tion of reprints. Since the various aspects of reprint dis- tribution are increasing in many countries, the value of the reprint as a means of com- munication comes under question. The ob- jective of the current study was to attempt to determine the impact of reprint distribu- tion on the subsequent citation of that ref- erence and the degree of citation as a func- tion of receipt of those reprints by authors. Since 1965 records have been maintained Keith Green is Regents' Professor of Ophthal- mology, Department of Ophthalmology, Medical CoUege of Georgia, Augusta. 44/ on the requestors' names and the reprints of papers distributed from my office. The Sci- ence Citation Index (Institute for Scientific Information) was used in a ten-year retro- spective study of the subsequent citation of twenty-eight papers, which represent all journal publications during the ten-year re- porting period for which I was the senior author and/or those for which reprint dis- tribution was entirely my responsibility. All citations of these twenty-eight papers, ex- cept self-citations (any publication citing these papers in which l was an author), were counted over a ten-year (1965-75) period and cross-checked against the reprint distribution file. The publication years selected were 1965 to 1974. Analysis of citations was made from the Science Citation Index dating from 1965 until 1976, providing a twelve-year report- ing period. The two-year excess of reporting period over publication period was made since analysis indicated that the seventeen papers published in 197~74 (which fulfilled the criteria of senior authorship and/or re- print distribution responsibility) were cited thirty-seven times; but when the years 197~76 were examined, the citations in- creased to sixty-six, nineteen of these due to citation of 1973 and 1974 papers. The analysis of citation-return revealed that over the ten-year publication period, twenty-five of the twenty-~ight total papers were cited (eleven of el~en published be- tween 1965 and 1969; fourteen of seventeen -published from 1970 to 1974). The twenty- five papers were cited a total of 193 times, with reprints distributed to thirty-nine of the authors citing them (thirty-one reprints compared to 127 citations, or 24 percent, in 1965--69; eight reprints compared to sixty- six citations, or 12 percent, in 1970-74). This means that 80 percent (154/193) of the citations of these twenty-five papers were made by authors who neither re- quested nor received reprints. There is an apparent lack of relationship of citation oc- currence to citation-return, since the per- centage of citations by authors receiving re- prints appears low. It is obvious, therefore, that many reprints are distributed without subsequent citation. The number of citations can be related to the total number of reprints distributed, since the latter has been recorded in this , office. The thirty-one citations from those sent reprints in 1965--69 resulted from the distribution of 1,233 reprints, giving a citation-return of 2.5 percent; while for 1970-74, the eight citations by authors re- ceiving reprints resulted from the distribu- tion of 1,167 reprints (. 7 percent). For all the years, therefore, the citation- return on all distributed reprints from this office is 1.6 percent; that is, only 1.6 per- cent of all reprints distributed resulted in their citation. If one assumes, however, that the thirty-one citations for 1965-69 and eight citations for 1970-74 would not have been forthcoming if reprints were not sent, then reprints increased the citation-return rate by 25 percent for 1965--69 and by 12 percent for 1970--74. Two major conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, only 18 percent of the cit- ing authors received reprints directly from this author and, second, the thirty-nine cita- tions by authors who did receive reprints Citation-Return on Reprints I 45 represent only a small fraction (1.6 percent) of all distributed reprints. It is apparent, therefore, that many au- thors who cited these papers did so without access to reprints, which indicates a wide use of library facilities for reading and/or photocopying of journals as a means of access to publications. It is important to realize, however, that not all distributed re- prints will be cited nor be directly relevant to any specific research endeavors that re- sult in a subsequent citation. Rather, the reprint allows individuals to maintain a "sublibrary" of information relevant to many aspects of their activities. Thus, although the citation-return may be low, other facets of reprint utilization have to be taken into account, such as their use in teaching, as well as a means of keeping up with current research activities in areas of peripheral interest. The data suggest that there is a need for further study in this area of citation-return on a larger scale than the experience of one individual. From the input of several au- thors, it would be possible to draw more definitive conclusions regarding the useful- ness of continuing the .practice of reprint distribution. Such a study could be effec- tively coordinated through a university or college library. REFERENCES 1. Eugene Garfield, "The 250 Most-Cited Pri- mary Authors, 1961-75. Part II. The Correla- tion between Citedness, Nobel Prizes, and Academy Memberships," Current Contents 20(50):5-15. 2. Eugene Garfield, "The 250 Most-Cited Pri- mary Authors, 1961-75. Part III. Each Au- thor's Most-Cited Publication," Current Con- tents 20(51):5-20. 3. Eugene Garfield, "Citation Indexing for Study- ing Science," Nature 227:669-71 (1970). · Up-to-the-minute research grant publications save you time and money. ORYX PRESS Publications are the most compretiensive-most economical- source of current information on research grants sponsored by government and private funding organizations in all subject areas: 1979 Directory of Research Grants The comprehensive, up-to-date, hard cover, annual guide to over 2000 unique research grants in 90 subject categories. All grant sources are covered - public and private, domestic and foreign, graduate and undergraduate. Recommended by every major professional reviewing service. Grant Information System Includes four (quarterly) volumes a year covering over 2000 grants in 90 academic disciplines. Monthly Faculty Alert Bulletins are issued in six major categories. An indispensable tool. 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