Research Article
Dissertations and Theses in Top Nursing Publications:
A Bibliometric Study
Stephen Woods
Social Science Librarian,
Social Science Data and Government Information
The Pennsylvania State
University Libraries
University Park,
Pennsylvania, United States of America
Email: swoods@psu.edu
ORCID ID:
0000-0003-2102-1890
Kathleen Phillips
Nursing and Allied Health
Librarian
The Pennsylvania State
University Libraries
University Park,
Pennsylvania, United States of America
Email: kec5013@psu.edu
ORCID ID:
0000-0002-0098-6354
Andrew Dudash
Librarian for Political
Science, Policy Studies, and Government Information
The Pennsylvania State
University Libraries
University Park,
Pennsylvania, United States of America
Email: amd846@psu.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-9546-3440
Received: 16 Apr. 2020 Accepted: 28 Sept. 2020
2020 Woods, Phillips, and Dudash. This
is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0
International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial
purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the
same or similar license to this one.
Abstract
Objective - To investigate
the overall prevalence of citations to theses and dissertations, as well as
their prevalence in feature articles, editorials, and review articles in top
research nursing journals. To evaluate differences between journals and to
determine whether there was a change in use over time.
Methods - Journals were
selected from the Medical Library Association’s Nursing and Allied Health
Resource Section’s 2012 Selected List of Nursing Journals. An evaluation was
conducted of citations from 3,711 articles published in 2011 and 2018 in 7 top
nursing journals. Thesis and dissertation citations were identified and
categorized by type of scholarly communication: feature articles, reviews, and
editorials. Analysis was conducted for the prevalence of citations for theses
and dissertations based on percentage of overall citations and the percentage
of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation.
Results - Thesis and
dissertation citations accounted for 0.41% of all citations. However, 9.43% of
the articles contained at least one thesis and dissertation citation. Feature
articles contained more thesis and dissertation citations than review articles
and editorials. The Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical
Nursing, and the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published a
higher percentage of articles with at least one thesis and dissertation
citation.
Conclusion - The
overall use of theses and dissertations in nursing scholarship is comparatively
low compared to other forms of scholarly communication. However, this unique
form of scholarship viewed from its impact on the percentage of scholarly
articles in nursing demonstrates that theses and dissertations have made more
of a contribution than previously reported. Our research provides libraries and
the nursing academy with empirical evidence for the value of theses and
dissertations. It provides librarians and the nursing academy justification for
continuing efforts to preserve, enhance access through digital repositories,
and to continue to explore strategies to promote the use of theses and
dissertations in research.
Introduction
Theses and dissertations have a long-established history in nursing scholarship
(Yam, 2005). The emergence of the professional doctorate in nursing in the
1990s, with its policy-driven emphasis on the practical application of
research, expanded the scope and output of theses and dissertations as a form
of scholarly communication in nursing (Yam, 2005; Smith, 2013). Furthermore,
the development of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) and the growth of
repositories and archives in 2005 generated considerable discussion around the
use and access of theses and dissertations to further scholarly research.
Macduff (2009) provides a case study concluding that web-based
repositories have the potential to impact the nature, use, and access of theses
and dissertations. Goodfellow (2009) explores the impact of ETD repositories by
reviewing the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations,
Australasian Digital Theses Program, and the commercial publisher ProQuest’s
Dissertations and Theses. Goodfellow and co-authors (2012) conducted a survey
to understand the knowledge and use of ETD by faculty, students, and alumni
from nursing schools in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the US.
Only 44% of the 209 participants understood how to access ETDs at their
institutions and only 27% cited an ETD in a publication. Mcduff
and co-authors (2016) conducted a qualitative study of 14 nursing scholars in
order to understand how nursing scholars engage with ETDs. They identified six
themes from the interviews: importance of initial exposure, process of
searching for ETDs, access issues from multiple disciplines, handling and
reading ETDs, application of ETDs, cultural and institutional changes in ETDs.
Literature Review
Bibliometric studies offer a unique lens for exploring the use of theses
and dissertations in nursing research. Traynor (2011) argues that bibliometrics
offers insight into the state and status of research in nursing, the value of
disciplinary activity, and patterns of publishing within the profession. This
bibliometric study focuses on the use of theses and dissertations in nursing
scholarship and patterns of use in nursing journals.
Bibliometric studies of grey literature from various disciplines have
been conducted to measure the prevalence of thesis and dissertation citations
in research (Anderson & Thiery, 2005). Scholars
define grey literature as material published by governments, academics,
businesses, and industries not controlled by commercial publishers (Farace, 1997). While the categorization of grey literature
is not an exact science, there is a consensus in grey literature studies
identifying theses and dissertations as one of the grey literature categories
measured (see examples in Table 1).
Two larger bibliometric studies unrelated to grey literature research
also examined the scientific impact of theses and dissertations using
bibliometrics. Larivière, Zuccala,
and Archambault (2008) measured the instances of dissertations and theses cited
in 266 journals from 1945 to 2004 within Web of Science (Thompson Scientific).
It was determined that dissertations and theses comprised less than 1% of the
references in journals from both the Social Science and Humanities and the
Natural Sciences. Furthermore, the authors identified a leveling off in the
1980s regarding the number of theses and dissertations cited in the scholarly
material evaluated. The study also demonstrated a decline in the percentage of
thesis and dissertation references compared to the total number of references.
The authors examined the percentage of thesis and dissertation references in
smaller specific subject domains within the Natural Sciences and the Social
Sciences and Humanities. Clinical medicine and biomedical research had the
lowest percentage at around 0.2%. Approximately 25% of the dissertation and
thesis citations in the Natural Sciences were self-citations, while 15% in the
Social Science and Humanities were self-citations.
Table 1
Theses and
Dissertations in Grey Literature Studies
|
Grey Literature Studies
|
# Thesis & Dissertation (TD) Citations
|
# Articles
|
# Citations
|
Journal Type/Year
|
|
(Alberani, Pietrangeli, & Mazza, 1990)
|
390
|
1,398
|
22,072
|
Science/1990
|
|
(Pelzer & Wiese, 2000)
|
259
|
2,159
|
55,823
|
Veterinary/2000
|
|
(Woods, Phillips, & Dudash,
2020)
|
277
|
1,467
|
52,116
|
Nursing/2011
|
Rasuli, Schopfel, and Prost (2018) conducted a similar study using
Scopus (Elsevier) data from 1970 to 2017, concluding that 1.5% of publications
contained a citation for a thesis or dissertation. The data demonstrated an
increase in the percentage of publications citing theses and dissertations in
all fields of study, led by publications in the Arts and Humanities. The
authors also examined the contributions of ETDs, by evaluating a representative
sample of theses and dissertations to determine whether they were available in
an institutional repository through searches in Google Scholar and Bielefeld
Academic Search Engine. They found that 83% were available in some type of
electronic repository.
Aims
To establish the prevalence of thesis and dissertation citations in core
scholarly and research nursing journals, the following are examined: percentage
of thesis and dissertation citations found in the total number of citations,
types of articles citing theses and dissertations, and number of articles
citing theses and dissertations. Differing from previous studies, the
prevalence of thesis and dissertation citations based on the percentage of
articles that included a thesis and dissertation citation are also examined.
The authors argue that this approach provides a more meaningful way to measure
prevalence for unique types of scholarly communication like theses and
dissertations. This research explores the following questions:
1.
What is a more accurate bibliometric method to
determine the use of theses and dissertations in the scholarship of nursing?
2.
Does the use of thesis and dissertation citations
change over time?
3.
What types of articles cite theses and dissertations?
4.
Are articles that cite theses and dissertations evenly
distributed among the journals?
Methods
The authors used citation analysis to determine the incidence of thesis
and dissertation citations appearing in the bibliographies of articles
published in 2011 and 2018 from 7 top nursing research journals.
Journal Selection
Journals selected for analysis are based on evaluation of the research
impact of journals from the 2012 “Selected List of Nursing Journals” published
by the Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section (NAHRS) of the Medical Library
Association (Sherwill-Navarro & Allen, 2012).
Criteria for the selection of journals is based on the combined rank, from a
rank based on the number of research articles and a rank based on the
percentage of research (Table 2).
The top six journals with the highest combined ranks were selected for
this study. The Journal of Women’s Health was also included as the
highest-ranked independent publisher, providing seven total journals. The
authors’ decision to include a title from an independent publisher recognizes
the scholarly contributions of journals outside standard academic publishers.
Citation data were collected from articles published in 2011, because the 2012
NAHRS list (Sherwill-Navarro & Allen, 2012) is
based on 2007-2011 data. Articles from 2018 were selected because they offer
the most current complete data to evaluate change in the use of TD citations
over time. The analysis is therefore focused on the following journals:
1.
Journal of Clinical Nursing (JCN)
2.
Patient Education and
Counseling (PEC)
3.
Infection Control &
Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE)
4.
Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN)
5.
Scandinavian Journal of
Caring Sciences (SJCS)
6.
Maternal and Child Health
Journal (MCHJ)
7.
Journal of Women’s Health (JWH)
Table
2
Journal
Selection Rank
|
NAHRS Journals 2012
|
# Research Article Rank
|
Research % Rank
|
Combine Rank
|
Publisher
|
|
Journal of Clinical Nursing
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
Wiley
|
|
Patient Education and Counseling
|
4
|
5
|
9
|
Elsevier
|
|
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology
|
5
|
4
|
9
|
Cambridge Press
|
|
Journal of Advanced Nursing
|
3
|
13
|
16
|
Blackwell
|
|
Maternal and Child Health Journal
|
11
|
6
|
17
|
Springer
|
|
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences
|
14
|
3
|
17
|
Wiley
|
|
International Journal of Nursing Studies
|
7
|
14
|
21
|
Elsevier
|
|
Qualitative Health Research
|
9
|
17
|
26
|
Sage
|
|
Cancer Nursing
|
20
|
9
|
29
|
Kluwer
|
|
Journal of Women's Health
|
6
|
26
|
32
|
Mary Ann Liebert
|
|
Midwifery
|
17
|
19
|
36
|
Elsevier
|
|
Journal of Nursing Management
|
13
|
27
|
40
|
Wiley
|
|
Nursing Research
|
28
|
12
|
40
|
LWW
|
|
International Journal of Nursing Practice
|
23
|
18
|
41
|
Wiley
|
|
Journal of School Health
|
18
|
24
|
42
|
Wiley
|
|
Health Care for Women International
|
27
|
16
|
43
|
Taylor & Francis
|
|
Nurse Education Today
|
12
|
36
|
48
|
Elsevier
|
|
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|
10
|
40
|
50
|
Elsevier
|
|
American Journal of Public Health
|
2
|
49
|
51
|
APHA
|
Data Selection
Meta-data from articles published in 2011 and 2018
from these seven journals were extracted from Web of Science to create a Parent
Article Data set. A comparison of articles listed on the journals’ official
websites identified missing articles along with appropriate meta-data, which
were added to this study. The authors analyzed article types occurring in all
of the journals selected, in order to make comparisons between journals. These
article types included feature articles, editorials, and reviews. This study
evaluated 3,113 articles (Table 3); 297 articles identified as correspondence,
letters, retractions, proceedings, and biographies were not included in the
study.
A separate Citation Data set for citations was created using the
articles’ Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which functioned as the key to map
each citation to the Parent Article Data (PAD) set. The PAD included the DOIs,
authors, authors’ institutions, titles of articles, article types, volume
numbers, page numbers, and years published. Citations for articles found in Web
of Science were pulled from the database. The citation count for each article
was confirmed through the journals’ websites. Missing citations were added as
needed. Citations for articles missing from Web of Science were added through
the journals’ websites.
The authors analyzed 76,566 citations from 2018 and 61,072 citations
from 2011 (Table 4). The data were organized to identify the authors, year,
sources, and corresponding DOIs with the PAD set. However, most citation
records also included other useful information such as: volume, page number,
uniform resource locator, institutions, publisher, or book chapter titles.
Table
3
Number
of Articles Analyzed by Type of Article
|
|
Feature Article
|
Editorial
|
Review
|
Total
|
|
ICHE 2011
|
165
|
20
|
6
|
191
|
|
ICHE 2018
|
194
|
36
|
19
|
249
|
|
JAN 2011
|
214
|
16
|
28
|
258
|
|
JAN 2018
|
198
|
40
|
47
|
285
|
|
JCN 2011
|
306
|
60
|
40
|
406
|
|
JCN 2018
|
489
|
21
|
63
|
573
|
|
JWH 2011
|
213
|
9
|
4
|
226
|
|
JWH 18
|
223
|
24
|
13
|
260
|
|
MCHJ 2011
|
171
|
3
|
0
|
174
|
|
MCHJ 2018
|
209
|
2
|
5
|
216
|
|
PEC 2011
|
290
|
24
|
23
|
337
|
|
PEC 2018
|
210
|
27
|
42
|
279
|
|
SJCS 2011
|
95
|
4
|
2
|
101
|
|
SJCS 2018
|
136
|
6
|
14
|
156
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
1,454
|
136
|
281
|
1,693
|
|
Total 2018
|
1,659
|
156
|
203
|
2,018
|
|
Total
|
3,113
|
292
|
306
|
3,711
|
Table
4
Number
of Citations Analyzed by Type of Article
|
|
Feature Article
|
Editorial
|
Review
|
Total
|
|
ICHE 2011
|
3,537
|
520
|
450
|
4,507
|
|
ICHE 2018
|
3,869
|
615
|
902
|
5,386
|
|
JAN 2011
|
8,930
|
166
|
1,674
|
10,770
|
|
JAN 2018
|
9,412
|
618
|
2,640
|
12,670
|
|
JCN 2011
|
11,607
|
573
|
2,134
|
14,314
|
|
JCN 2018
|
20,807
|
277
|
3,158
|
24,242
|
|
JWH 2011
|
8,622
|
153
|
181
|
8,956
|
|
JWH 2018
|
8,390
|
362
|
739
|
9,491
|
|
MCHJ 2011
|
6,153
|
26
|
232
|
6,411
|
|
MCHJ 2018
|
6,244
|
8
|
234
|
6,486
|
|
PEC 2011
|
10,739
|
254
|
1260
|
12,253
|
|
PEC 2018
|
7,749
|
722
|
3,219
|
11,690
|
|
SJCS 2011
|
3,757
|
20
|
84
|
3,861
|
|
SJCS 2018
|
5,811
|
15
|
775
|
6,601
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
53,345
|
1,712
|
6,015
|
61,072
|
|
Total 2018
|
62,282
|
2,617
|
11,667
|
76,566
|
|
Total
|
115,627
|
4,329
|
17,682
|
137,638
|
An initial review of the citations identified common serial titles and
publications by news sources, conference proceedings, government, and corporate
authors. These were coded as “not TDs” with no further evaluation. Citations
from Web of Science imported with the code “THESIS” were initially coded as
“TD”, but were reviewed later using WorldCat or the
library catalogues of the issuing institutions. Often, Web of Science did not
import crucial citation information or formats that would assist with
determining the thesis and dissertation status. In such cases, the original
article was consulted to determine if there were further clues. If the title
remained undetermined, then a search was conducted in WorldCat
or Google Scholar for the citation in question. Only titles that were confirmed
as theses and dissertations were included in this study.
The Citation Data set included 564 citations identified as theses and
dissertations. This study is an aggregation of all thesis and dissertation
types within the nursing profession, allowing the avoidance of international
nuances between theses and dissertations. For example, the data set includes
licentiate theses, medical specialty theses, postgraduate theses, Doctor of
Philosophy dissertations, Doctor of Professional Studies dissertations, and one
undergraduate senior honors thesis. Coding for each thesis or dissertation
citation included: DOI corresponding to the article in the PAD set, TD author
name, issuing year, title of the TD, title of the TD in the original language
if available, type of TD, and name of the issuing institution.
Table 5a
Total Prevalence
of Thesis and Dissertation Citations
|
|
TD Citations
|
Articles with TD
|
% Articles with TD
|
% TD Citations
|
|
ICHE 2011
|
2
|
2
|
1.05%
|
0.04%
|
|
ICHE 2018
|
1
|
1
|
0.40%
|
0.03%
|
|
JAN 2011
|
77
|
52
|
20.16%
|
0.71%
|
|
JAN 2018
|
72
|
39
|
13.68%
|
0.57%
|
|
JCN 2011
|
102
|
69
|
17.00%
|
0.71%
|
|
JCN 2018
|
127
|
77
|
13.44%
|
0.52%
|
|
JWH 2011
|
3
|
3
|
1.33%
|
0.03%
|
|
JWH 2018
|
2
|
1
|
0.38%
|
0.02%
|
|
MCHJ 2011
|
11
|
9
|
5.17%
|
0.17%
|
|
MCHJ 2018
|
5
|
5
|
2.31%
|
0.08%
|
|
PEC 2011
|
26
|
21
|
6.23%
|
0.21%
|
|
PEC 2018
|
16
|
13
|
4.66%
|
0.14%
|
|
SJCS 2011
|
50
|
26
|
25.74%
|
1.30%
|
|
SJCS 2018
|
70
|
32
|
20.51%
|
1.06%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
271
|
182
|
10.75%
|
0.44%
|
|
Total 2018
|
293
|
168
|
8.33%
|
0.38%
|
|
Total
|
564
|
350
|
9.43%
|
0.41%
|
Table
5b
Prevalence
of Thesis and Dissertation Citations without ICHE and JWH
|
|
TD Citations
|
Articles with TD
|
% Articles with TD
|
% Citations with TD
|
|
Total 2011
|
266
|
177
|
13.87%
|
0.56%
|
|
Total 2018
|
290
|
166
|
11.00%
|
0.47%
|
|
Total
|
556
|
343
|
12.32%
|
0.51%
|
Results
Analysis by Articles
Percentage of Citations
Seven journals were selected for analysis from 2011 and 2018, comprising
six top-ranked research journals in nursing and the top-ranked journal from an
independent publisher. A total of 3,711 articles generated 137,638 citations,
of which 564 citations were identified as theses and dissertations. Combining
both years, theses and dissertations represent 0.41% of the citations from the
articles evaluated in these journals. The data shows a decrease from 0.44% in
2011 to 0.38% in 2018 (Table 5a).
Percentage of Articles
This study shows that 9.43% of the combined articles from 2011 and 2018
contain at least one thesis and dissertation citation (Table 5a). This approach
also shows a decrease in the percentage of articles citing one or more thesis
or dissertation from 2011 (10.75%) to 2018 (8.33%). The number of thesis and
dissertation citations increased from 2011 to 2018, but there was also an
increase in total articles (Table 3) and subsequently the total numbers of
citations (Table 4).
Journal Comparison
The Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science
(SJCS) had the highest percentage of thesis and dissertation citations (1%).
SJCS had the highest percentage of articles with at least one thesis and
dissertation citation in SJCS for both of the years evaluated 2011 (25.74%) and
2018 (20.51%). The Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) and the Journal
of Clinical Nursing (JCN) had similar percentages (0.71%) for the number of
thesis and dissertation citations to overall citations in 2011. JAN (20.16%)
and JCN (17%) had a higher percentage of articles with thesis and dissertation
citations in 2011 in comparison to the other journals. The percentage of
articles with a thesis and dissertation citation in JAN and JCN decreased in
2018. Patient Education and Counseling (PEC) (0.21%) and Maternal
Child Health Journal (MCHJ) (0.17%), in comparison to other journals, had a
smaller percentage of thesis and dissertation citations. Both demonstrated a
percentage decrease in thesis and dissertation citations from 2011 to 2018. The
percentage of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation in PEC and MCHJ
fell below the average (10.58%) for all 6 journals. Journal of Women’s
Health (JWH) and Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology
(ICHE) had the smallest percentage of thesis and dissertation citations and the
lowest percentage of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation.
Through looking at the prevalence of articles with a
thesis and dissertation citation, based on the overall number of articles with
a thesis and dissertation citation, it was found that JCN (146), JAN (91), and
SCJS (58) published 85% (295) of the articles identified in this study. PEC
(34), MCHJ (14), and JWH (4) follow in rank. SJCS (26, 31) and JCN (69, 77)
increased the number of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation from
2011 to 2018. The other journals demonstrate a decrease in this same time
frame.
Removing the journals JWH and ICHE as potential outliers increases the
overall prevalence of thesis and dissertation citations in the remaining
journals (Table 5b). Overall, 12.32% of articles not including JWH and ICHE
contain a thesis and dissertation citation, compared to 9.43% for all the
journals in the study. The percentage of thesis and dissertation citations
increased from 0.41% to 0.51% when JWH and ICHE were removed from the analysis.
Analysis by Article Type
The prevalence of thesis and dissertation citations by the types of
articles found in these selected publications was also explored. As stated in
the methods, this analysis was limited to feature articles, editorials, and
review articles.
Feature Articles
The identification of 475 thesis and dissertation citations occurred,
which represents 0.41% of the total citations for feature articles (Table 6).
SJCS had the highest percentage of thesis and dissertation citations to overall
citations in feature articles, but this percentage decreased between 2011
(1.3%) and 2018 (1.06%). JAN had the next highest percentage of thesis and
dissertation citations to overall citations with 0.85% in 2011 and 0.47% in
2018. JCN was comparable with the journals selected at 0.73% in 2011 and at
0.55% in 2018. The percentage of thesis and dissertation citations to overall
citations in PEC and MCHJ were noticeably smaller, while JWH and ICHE had the
smallest percentage of thesis and dissertation citations in feature articles.
Table
6
Feature
Articles: Prevalence of Theses and Dissertations
|
Journal
|
TD Citations
|
Articles with TD
|
% Articles with TD
|
% TD Citations
|
|
ICHE 2011
|
0
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
|
ICHE 2018
|
1
|
1
|
0.52%
|
0.03%
|
|
JAN 2011
|
76
|
51
|
23.83%
|
0.85%
|
|
JAN 2018
|
44
|
25
|
12.63%
|
0.47%
|
|
JCN 2011
|
85
|
56
|
18.30%
|
0.73%
|
|
JCN 2018
|
114
|
70
|
14.31%
|
0.55%
|
|
JWH 2011
|
3
|
3
|
1.41%
|
0.03%
|
|
JWH 2018
|
2
|
1
|
0.45%
|
0.02%
|
|
MCHJ 2011
|
11
|
9
|
5.26%
|
0.18%
|
|
MCHJ 2018
|
4
|
4
|
1.91%
|
0.06%
|
|
PEC 2011
|
24
|
19
|
6.55%
|
0.22%
|
|
PEC 2018
|
12
|
10
|
4.76%
|
0.15%
|
|
SJCS 2011
|
49
|
25
|
26.32%
|
1.30%
|
|
SJCS 2018
|
50
|
29
|
21.32%
|
0.86%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
248
|
163
|
11.21%
|
0.46%
|
|
Total 2018
|
227
|
140
|
8.44%
|
0.36%
|
|
Total
|
475
|
303
|
9.73%
|
0.41%
|
Table
7
Review
Articles: Prevalence of Theses and Dissertations
|
Journals
|
TD Citations
|
Review with TD
|
% Articles with TD
|
% TD Citations
|
|
ICHE 2011
|
2
|
2
|
33.33%
|
0.44%
|
|
ICHE 2018
|
0
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
|
JAN 2011
|
1
|
1
|
3.57%
|
0.06%
|
|
JAN 2018
|
25
|
11
|
23.40%
|
0.95%
|
|
JCN 2011
|
13
|
9
|
22.50%
|
0.61%
|
|
JCN 2018
|
13
|
7
|
11.11%
|
0.41%
|
|
JWH 2011
|
0
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
|
JWH 2018
|
0
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
|
MCHJ 2011
|
0
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
|
MCHJ 2018
|
1
|
1
|
20.00%
|
0.43%
|
|
PEC 2011
|
2
|
2
|
8.70%
|
0.16%
|
|
PEC 2018
|
4
|
3
|
7.14%
|
0.12%
|
|
SJCS 2011
|
1
|
1
|
50.00%
|
1.19%
|
|
SJCS 2018
|
20
|
3
|
21.43%
|
2.58%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
19
|
15
|
14.56%
|
0.32%
|
|
Total 2018
|
63
|
25
|
12.32%
|
0.54%
|
|
Total
|
82
|
40
|
13.07%
|
0.46%
|
Regarding feature articles, 303 were identified with TD citations
(9.73%) from the 3,113 feature articles evaluated in this study. For feature
articles, SJCS, JCN, and JAN had the highest percentages of articles with a
thesis and dissertation citation. JCN had the highest overall total number of
articles with a TD citation (n=126). The percentage of articles with a thesis
and dissertation citation in SJCS, JCN, and JAN decreased from 2011 to 2018.
However, the number of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation for JCN
increased from 56 in 2011 to 70 in 2018. While the percentage of feature
articles with a thesis and dissertation citation in PEC was lower than SJCS,
JCN, and JAN, the number of articles in PEC (n=19) was higher than MCHJ (n=13),
JWH (n=4), and ICHE (n=1). MCHJ, JWH, and ICHE had the lowest percentage of
feature articles with a thesis and dissertation citation.
Review Articles
The review articles evaluated provided the next highest percentages of
thesis and dissertation citations by citation counts. There were 82 thesis and
dissertation citations representing (0.46%) of citations found in review
articles (Table 7). Overall, the percentage of thesis and dissertation
citations in review articles increased from 0.32% in 2011 to 0.54% in 2018. The
percentage of thesis and dissertation citations in SJCS increased in from 1.19%
in 2011 to 2.58% in 2018. JAN increased from 0.06% to 0.95% in that same
timeframe. PEC, MCHJ, and ICHE had the fewest number of review articles with
thesis and dissertation citations, and JWH had none.
Of the 306 review articles, 40 contained a thesis and
dissertation citation (13.07%). From the journals selected, JCN had the highest
number of review articles (n=16) with a thesis and dissertation citation
followed by JAN (n=12). JCN experienced a decrease in the percentage of
articles with a thesis and dissertation citation from 22.5% in 2011 to 11.11%
in 2018, while JAN had an increase from 3.57% in 2011 to 23.4% in 2018. The
percentage of review articles with a thesis and dissertation citation from PEC
was consistent from 2011 (8.7%) to 2018 (7.14%). JWH had no review articles
with a thesis and dissertation citation. The low number of review articles
published in ICHE 2011 (6), SJCS 2011 (2), MCHJ 2011(0), MCHJ 2018 (5), JHW
2011 (4), minimize the effectiveness of evaluating the percentages of review
articles with a TD and the percentage of TD citations in those particular
journals (Table 7).
Table
8
Editorial
Articles: Prevalence of Theses and Dissertations
|
|
TD Citations
|
Editorial with TD
|
% Articles with TD
|
% TD Citations
|
|
JAN 2018
|
3
|
3
|
7.50%
|
0.49%
|
|
JCN 2011
|
4
|
4
|
6.67%
|
0.70%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total 2011
|
4
|
4
|
2.94%
|
0.23%
|
|
Total 2018
|
3
|
3
|
1.92%
|
0.11%
|
|
Total
|
7
|
7
|
2.40%
|
0.16%
|
Editorials
Only seven out of 292 editorials contained thesis and
dissertation citations, representing (0.16%) of the citations found for this
article type. Only 2 journals had thesis and dissertation citations for
editorials: JAN 2018 (0.49%) and JCN 2011 (0.7%). Editorial articles with
thesis and dissertation citations were only found in JAN 2018 and JCN 2011,
representing 7.5% and 6.67% of the editorials found in these journals
respectively.
Discussion
This study
confirms the low percentage of thesis and dissertation citations compared to
overall citation counts found in earlier studies (Larivière, Zuccala,
& Archambault, 2008; Rasuli, Schöpfel,
& Prost, 2018). However, the approach to evaluate prevalence based on
percentage of articles with a thesis and dissertation citation indicates that
around 1 out of every 10 articles published in a top scholarly nursing journal
cites a thesis and dissertation.
This study supports the argument that the percentage of articles with a
thesis and dissertation is a better representation of the usage of theses and
dissertations in scholarly communication. Traditional weight given to scholarly
journal articles in scholarship skews the overall percentage of citations, thus
minimizing the contributions of unique scholarly materials such as theses and
dissertations.
It is clear from this study that the use of theses and dissertations in the
nursing journals evaluated decreased from 2011 to 2018. Although this finding
is consistent with earlier research (Larivière, Zuccala, & Archambault, 2008; Rasuli,
Schöpfel, & Prost, 2018), it would be
inappropriate to assert that this decrease represents an ongoing trend. Further
study would need to be conducted for the intervening years.
The contributions of theses and dissertations to scholarly communication
in nursing is further supported in this study by the overwhelming percentage of
theses and dissertations found in feature articles, rather than other types of
articles. Previous research by Larivière, Zuccala, & Archambault (2008) and Rasuli,
Schöpfel, & Prost (2018) argues that thesis and
dissertation citations were most likely to be found in review articles, but
this study contradicts these findings. The overall
percentage of citations in feature articles is 0.41% and 0.46% for review
articles. The percentage of articles containing a thesis and dissertation
citation in feature articles is 9.73% and 13.07% for review articles. In
sum, the use of theses and dissertations in nursing feature articles is
comparable to use in review articles.
Finally, the comparison of journals that publish articles with theses
and dissertations provides new insights for researchers looking for publishing
venues, as well as opportunities for further research. Based on this study,
research articles citing theses and dissertations are more likely to be
published in JCN, JAN, and SJCS.
Limitations
Journal Selection
The journals selected had an English language bias. The authors did not
have access to articles from the journal site for ICHE 2018, so were not able
to verify the accuracy of all the article citation data obtained from Web of
Science. Only two thesis and dissertation citations were confirmed from ICHE
citations for 2011 from Web of Science and the journals website. The data
extracted from Web of Science for 2018 not confirmed from the journals site
contained one thesis and dissertation citation. Extrapolating from the low use
of theses and dissertations citations in ICHE in 2011 and the low occurrence of
thesis and dissertation citations in the 2018 data from Web of Science data,
there is a high probability that the percentage of thesis and dissertation citations
from ICHE in 2018 remained consistent.
Analytics
The authors recognize that theses and dissertations published in some
nursing programs were compilations of three to four articles published in
scholarly journals. Such scholarly articles were not identified as theses and
dissertations for analysis. The prevalence of theses and dissertations by the
percentage of review articles for SJCS, JWH, and MCHJ was problematic due to
the small n in the total number of review articles published by these journals.
Consequently, the percentage of review articles for these journals was skewed.
Generalizability
This study focused on the prevalence and impact of thesis and
dissertation citations by type of article from a limited core of nursing
journals. Consequently, it does not address why a thesis or dissertation was cited
or why a journal published an article with a thesis or dissertation. To explore
causality, a deeper analysis of the theses and dissertations would need to be
conducted, including the article citing the thesis and dissertation and the
nature of the journal. This would include such elements as the subject matter
of the thesis and dissertation, thesis and dissertation age, number of unique
theses and dissertations, thesis and dissertation institutions, thesis and
dissertation committee members, number of times the thesis and dissertation was cited overall, the type of thesis and dissertation, and
whether or not there is electronic access. A deeper analysis of the citing
article would also be needed, such as authors of the article (to determine
whether or not a thesis and dissertation is self-cited), institutions of the
article’s authors, and subject matter of the article.
Conclusion
The percentage of articles citing a thesis or
dissertation provides clear empirical evidence of the impact of theses and dissertations
on nursing scholarship. This study shows that 1 out of 10 articles contained a
thesis and dissertation citation; in the case of JCN, JAN, and SJCS this number
is closer to 1 out of 5 articles. The implications of these findings for
librarianship and nursing scholarship is worth consideration.
Collection
Building
The findings suggest that
theses and dissertations are an important format for building collections for
nursing. Collection development strategies should include the selection of theses
and dissertations, along with other traditional materials such as journals and
monographs. Academic libraries have traditionally played a key role in the
preservation of their institutions’ theses and dissertations in hardcopy as
well as digital formats. The scholarly use of theses and dissertations in
nursing research provides justification for continued financial support for the
preservation of theses and dissertations. Furthermore, this study supports
library initiatives to enhance access and discoverability of theses and
dissertations through ETD repositories and distributed networked bibliographic
databases, as discussed in the introduction.
Bibliographic
Instruction and Reference
This study reinforces the
importance of including discussions of theses and dissertations in
bibliographic instruction and reference consultations. The prevalence of theses
and dissertations in both review articles and feature articles in nursing
scholarship necessitates a closer look at pedagogical approaches for instruction,
as well as developing strategies for research consultations. Although
bibliometric research methodology is helpful for identifying key usage trends,
it is not necessarily useful for identifying pedagogical approaches for
communicating these concepts to users. In sum, this study reinforces the need
for future research to assist librarians in communicating the benefits and use
of theses and dissertations as unique contributions in advancing research.
Nursing Scholars
and Nursing Academy
Nursing scholars and the
nursing academy should seriously consider the potential contribution of theses
and dissertations to their scholarship. A number of nursing scholars and a core
set of journals already cite theses and dissertations in nursing research,
demonstrating that at least some nursing scholars recognize that there is
empirically sound research being conducted by graduate students in the nursing
academy. The affirmation of scholarship between established and future nursing
researchers will only strengthen the community of nursing scholars.
Furthermore, the nursing
academy needs to consider the promotional value of its theses and
dissertations. As a published work, the student, academic institution, and
program all contribute to the scholarship of every thesis and dissertation. The
nursing academy needs to work in partnership with the academic libraries to
promote and provide access to theses and dissertations, in order to advance
nursing scholarship, enhance the reputation of the nursing academy, and attract
future students.
Future Research
Further investigation of
academic nursing programs producing theses and dissertations cited in core
nursing journals would assist librarians in the development of focused
collection strategies. It would also be useful to look at the lifespan of cited
theses and dissertations to determine whether digitization of older hardcopy
materials would benefit from access in ETD repositories. A closer evaluation of
theses and dissertation citations could help determine the impact and use of
ETD repositories. The authors argue that it is disingenuous to determine the
impact of ETD by simply looking at the increase or decrease of theses and
dissertations.
Closer evaluation of thesis
and dissertation citations provides further insight for librarians providing
instruction and reference. Further research needs to be done focusing on how
researchers use theses and dissertations, to help librarians develop
instructional and consultative approaches. For example, are theses and
dissertations simply used to enhance the introduction, support the literature
review, or used to develop research methodology? Clinical and medical
librarians need to publish systematic learning strategies for finding and
accessing theses and dissertations.
This aggregation of theses
and dissertations did not explore the idiosyncrasies of the various types of
theses and dissertations. A further examination could provide librarians a
better understanding of the use of Masters’ theses, doctoral dissertations,
professional dissertations, and international equivalents. Looking at the
academic programs of the cited theses and dissertations could offer librarians
a better understanding of the interdisciplinary contributions of theses and
dissertations.
An exploration of the international
representation of theses and dissertations also offers some intriguing research
opportunities. Which countries or regions are producing more theses and
dissertations cited in nursing scholarship? Which nursing programs within these
countries are better represented and why? Are there regional networked
bibliographic databases that contain bibliographic information about these
cited theses and dissertations? Do they offer multiple language searching? Is a
digital version available from the academic institution? Is there a difference
in how countries offer digital versions or discoverability?
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